In 2022, world spending on military needs set a new record. They reached the mark of $2.224 trillion.
This is stated in a report published by the research institute SIPRI in Stockholm.
Last year, 56% of the worldʼs total spending was accounted for by the three biggest spenders — the United States, China and Russia.
According to experts, the sharpest growth (+13%) was observed in Europe. It mainly fell on the military expenses of Ukraine and the Russian Federation. However, aid to Ukraine, concerns about a growing threat from Russia, and tensions in East Asia have heavily influenced spending decisions in many other countries.
The military expenditures of the states of Central and Western Europe last year amounted to $345 billion. In real terms, these countriesʼ spending for the first time exceeded the level of 1989, when the Cold War was ending, and became 30% higher than in 2013. Several nations have significantly increased military spending since the start of Russiaʼs full-scale war in Ukraine, while others have announced plans to increase spending over the next decade.
The sharpest growth occurred in Finland (+36%), Lithuania (+27%), Sweden (+12%) and Poland (+11%).
In 2022, Russian military spending increased by approximately 9.2% to almost $86.4 billion. This was equivalent to 4.1% of last yearʼs GDP of the Russian Federation. In 2021, this figure was 3.7%.
Ukraineʼs military spending last year increased by 640% and reached $44 billion. This was the highest single-year increase in a countryʼs military spending ever recorded by SIPRI.
The share of military expenditures in Ukraineʼs GDP increased to 34%. In 2021, it was 3.2%.
The United States spent the most on defense among all countries in the world. US military spending will reach $877 billion in 2022 — 39% of the world total and three times more than Chinaʼs figure. Military aid to Ukraine cost the US $19.9 billion last year.
- In March, SIPRI calculated that last year Ukraine took third place among the worldʼs arms importers, surpassed only by Qatar and India.