The world spent $2.4 trillion on military forces last year, the highest amount ever recorded by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). SIPRI has been monitoring military expenditures since 1949 and found in its annual report released on Monday that in 2023 they rose to 2.3 percent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) from 2.2 percent the year before.
It meant that every man, woman and child on the planet was taxed an average of $306 for military spending last year the highest rate since the Cold War. The increased spending exactly matched the global rate of inflation of 6.8 percent, so it doesn't necessarily translate into greater military efficacy everywhere.
The United States remained the biggest spender at $916bn, representing 37 percent of the world's military outlays. China came second with an estimated $296bn. Russia was third at $109bn although SIPRI considers this an underestimation due to the increasing opaqueness of Russian financial authorities since the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. India came fourth at $83.6bn.
[
add
]
[
|
|
...
]