Global military spending continued to increase last year, remaining well above the 2 trillion dollar mark, although defense spending in Africa fell for the first time since 2018.

This is according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which, in a new report published last month, said that total global military spending will increase by 3.7% in real terms by 2022, reaching a new high of 2.240 billion dollars.

Military spending in Europe registered the sharpest annual increase (13%) in at least 30 years and was largely justified by Russian and Ukrainian spending. However, military aid to Ukraine and concerns about the growing threat from Russia have strongly influenced the spending decisions of many other states, as have tensions in East Asia.

"The continued increase in global military spending in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world," said Dr. Nan Tian, senior researcher in SIPRI's Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program. "States are stepping up military power in response to a deteriorating security environment, which they do not expect to improve in the near future."

Military spending by Central and Western European states totaled 345 billion dollars in 2022. In real terms, these states' spending exceeded for the first time that of 1989, when the Cold War was ending, and was 30% higher than in 2013. Several states significantly increased their military spending in the wake of Russia's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, while others announced plans to increase spending levels for periods of up to a decade, SIPRI said. Some of the sharpest increases were seen in Finland (+36%), Lithuania (+27%), Sweden (+12%) and Poland (+11%).

Russian military spending grew by 9.2% in 2022, to around 86.4 billion dollars. This was equivalent to 4.1 % of Russia's gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022, compared to 3.7 % of GDP in 2021. Figures released by Russia at the end of 2022 show that spending on national defense, the largest component of Russian military spending, was already 34% higher in nominal terms than in the budget plans drawn up in 2021.

"The difference between Russia's budget plans and its actual military spending in 2022 suggests that the invasion of Ukraine cost Russia much more than anticipated," said Dr. Lucie Béraud-Sudreau, Director of SIPRI's Military Spending and Arms Production Program.

Ukraine's military spending reached 44 billion dollars in 2022. With an increase of 640 %, this was the largest single-year increase in a country's military spending ever recorded in SIPRI data. As a result of the increase and the damage caused by the war to Ukraine's economy, the military burden (military spending as a percentage of GDP) skyrocketed to 34 % of GDP in 2022, up from 3.2 % in 2021.

The US continues to dominate spending

The United States remains by far the largest military financier in the world. US military spending reached 877 billion dollars in 2022, which represents 39% of total global military spending and three times the amount spent by China, the world's second largest investor.

"The increase in US military spending in 2022 was largely explained by the unprecedented level of financial military aid it provided to Ukraine," said Dr. Nan Tian, senior researcher at SIPRI. "Given the scale of US spending, even a small increase in percentage terms has a significant impact on the level of overall military spending."

US financial military aid to Ukraine totaled 19.9 billion dollars in 2022. While this was the largest amount of military aid granted by any country to a single recipient in any year since the Cold War, it represented only 2.3% of total US military spending.

The combined military expenditure of the countries of Asia and Oceania was 575 billion dollars. This figure was 2.7% higher than in 2021 and 45% higher than in 2013, continuing an uninterrupted upward trend dating back to at least 1989.

China remained the second largest military spender in the world, allocating around 292 billion dollars in 2022. This was 4.2% more than in 2021 and 63% more than in 2013. China's military spending has increased for 28 consecutive years, SIPRI data showed.

African trends

In Africa, military spending totaled 39.4 billion dollars in 2022. Aggregate spending in the region fell for the first time since 2018 and was 5.3% lower than in 2021 and 6.4% lower than in 2013. With an estimated value of 19.1 billion dollars in 2022, North African countries' military spending was 3.2% lower than in 2021, but still 11% higher than in 2013.

Algeria and Morocco together accounted for almost three quarters (74%) of military spending in the sub-region. The territorial conflict between the two countries over Western Sahara, which is often a major influence on their military spending policies, continued in 2022. Despite this, Algeria's military spending decreased by 3.7% to 9.1 billion dollars, while Morocco's remained unchanged at 5.0 billion dollars.

The combined military expenditure of sub-Saharan African countries was 20.3 billion dollars in 2022. This was a decrease of 7.3% compared to 2021 and 18% compared to 2013. The drop in military spending in 2022 was mainly due to reductions in spending by the two biggest spenders in the sub-region, Nigeria and South Africa.

Nigeria's military spending decreased by 38% to 3.1 billion dollars in 2022. While Nigeria continued to face a wide range of security challenges (e.g. farmer-herder conflicts and violent extremism) during 2022, the devastating seasonal floods that hit the country that year led to a substantial shift in the government's budget priorities. While 73% of the 2021 supplementary budget was allocated to strengthening military capacities, the 2022 supplementary budget provided no funding for the armed forces and focused on rebuilding infrastructure damaged or destroyed by the floods.

South Africa's military spending fell for the second year in a row, reaching 3.0 billion dollars in 2022, SIPRI reported. Its spending was 8.4% lower than in 2021 and 21% lower than in 2013. The country's struggling economy has put severe pressure on public finances, leading to cuts in the military budget in 2022.

In 2022, Ethiopia recorded the highest annual percentage increase in military spending of any country in Africa, coinciding with a new government offensive against the Tigray People's Liberation Front in the north of the country. Ethiopia's military spending increased by 88% during the year, reaching US $ 1.0 billion, the new SIPRI report revealed. (Defense Web)