When the world was battling the deadly Covid-19 pandemic and resultant economic slowdown, the global military expenditure rose to nearly $2 trillion last year.
The US and China lead the list of the nations spending large money in procuring or producing weapons. India along with Russia, the United Kingdom figured among the big spenders.
These findings were highlighted by the renowned Stockholm International Peace Research Foundation (SIPRI) in its latest report released on Monday. It said the increase in spending was 2.6 per cent in real terms from 2019.
The five biggest spenders in 2020, which together accounted for 62 per cent of global military expenditure, were the US, China, India, Russia and the UK. Military spending by China grew for the 26th consecutive year.
Facing two hostile neighbours in the west (Pakistan) and east (China), India last year had to ramp up its operational readiness after tension with China flared up at the Line of Actual Control (LAC) in Ladakh.
As the stand-off persisted for months, India had to go in for emergency procurement to ensure that the armed forces did not lack logistical back up to meet any challenge.
Against the backdrop, India with an expenditure of 72.9 billion dollars emerged as one of the largest military spenders besides China, Japan ($49.1 billion), South Korea ($45.7 billion) and Australia ($27.5 billion) in the Asia and Oceania region. All four
countries increased their military spending between 2019 and 2020 and over the decade 2011-20.
Observing that military expenditure increased in the first year of the pandemic, the SIPRI report said the hike came in a year when the global gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 4.4 per cent (October 2020 projection by the International Monetary Fund), largely due to the economic impacts of the Covid-19 pandemic.
As a result, military spending as a share of GDP — the military burden — reached a global average of 2.4 per cent in 2020, up from 2.2 per cent in 2019. This was the
biggest year-on-year rise in the military burden since the global financial and economic crisis in 2009.
Even though military spending rose globally, some countries explicitly reallocated part of their planned military spending to pandemic response, such as Chile and South Korea.
Several others, including Brazil and Russia, spent considerably less than their initial military budgets for 2020.
“We can say with some certainty that the pandemic did not have a significant impact on global military spending in 2020,” said Dr Diego Lopes da Silva, Researcher with the SIPRI Arms and Military Expenditure Programme.
“It remains to be seen whether countries will maintain this level of military spending through a second year of the pandemic.”
Noting that there was a strong increase in US military spending in 2020, it said military expenditure reached an estimated $778 billion, representing an increase of 4.4 per cent over 2019.
As the world’s largest military spender, the USA accounted for 39 per cent of total military expenditure in 2020. This was the third consecutive year of growth in US military spending, following seven years of continuous reductions.
The SIPRI report said China’s military expenditure, the second highest in the world, is estimated to have totalled $252 billion in 2020. This represents an increase of 1.9 per cent over 2019 and 76 per cent over the decade 2011-20. China’s spending has risen for 26 consecutive years,
the longest series of uninterrupted increases by any country, it said.
Russia’s military expenditure increased by 2.5 per cent in 2020 to reach $61.7 billion. This was the second consecutive year of growth. Nevertheless, Russia’s actual military spending in 2020 was 6.6 per cent lower than its initial military budget, a larger shortfall than in previous years.
With a total of $59.2 billion, the UK became the fifth largest spender in 2020. The UK’s military spending was 2.9 per cent higher than in 2019 but 4.2 per cent lower than in 2011. Germany increased its spending by 5.2 per cent to $52.8 billion, making it the seventh-largest spender in 2020. Germany’s military expenditure was 28 per cent higher than in 2011.