The 2.6 percent increase in global military spending occurred annually when gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 4.4 percent (estimated by the International Monetary Fund), largely due to the economic impact of the Covid-19 epidemic. As a result, military spending as part of GDP military burden reached a global average of 2.4 percent by 2020, up from 2.2 percent in 2019. This is the largest annual increase in military burden since the global financial and economic crisis in 2009.
Although the cost of war is increasing worldwide, some countries are also making clear the amount of money we have planned for the military to respond to the epidemic, such as Chile and South Korea. Several others, including Brazil and Russia, have spent far less money than their first 2020 military budget.
‘We can say with certainty that the epidemic did not have a major impact on global military spending by 2020,’ said Dr Diego Lopes da Silva, Researcher at SIPRI Arms and military Expenditure Program. ‘It remains to be seen whether countries will maintain this level of military spending in the second year of the epidemic’.
Russia’s military spending has increased by 2.5 percent
Russia’s military spending has increased by 2.5 percentby 2020 to $ 61.7 billion. This was the second consecutive year of growth. However, Russia’s military spending in 2020 was 6.6 percent lower than its original military budget, a huge deficit than in previous years with a total of $ 59.2 billion.
UK fifth largest GDP
UK has become the fifth largest spending spender by 2020. UK military spending was 2.9 percent higher than in 2019, but 4.2 percent lower than in 2011. Germany increased its spending by 5.2 percent to $ 52.8 billion. , making it the seventh most expensive place by 2020. Germany’s military spending was 28 percent higher than in 2011, military spending across Europe increased by 4.0 percent by 2020.
