India Third Highest Military Spender: SIPRI
STORIES, ANALYSES, EXPERT VIEWS
According to the latest military expenditure database published Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), India was the third largest military spender in the world in 2020, behind only the US and China. SIPRI tracks military expenditure and arms trade globally. The US accounted for 39 per cent of the money spent on military globally, China accounted for 13 per cent, and India accounted for 3.7 per cent of the globe’s share.
The US spent a total of $778 billion in 2020, China spent $252 billion and India’s military expenditure was $72.9 billion. All three countries saw their military spending go up compared to 2019.
While India’s spending since 2019 grew by 2.1 per cent, the increase for China was more moderate, at 1.9 per cent. The US saw a 4.4 per cent growth over its 2019 expenditure.
The United States’ military spending was 3.7 per cent of its GDP while the corresponding numbers for China and India were 1.7 per cent and 2.9 per cent respectively.
From 2011 to 2020, American military expenditure dropped by 10 per cent, but China saw a 76 per cent growth while India’s military spending grew by 34 per cent.
SIPRI said that military spending in Asia and Oceania “was 2.5 per cent higher in 2020 than in 2019 and 47 per cent higher than in 2011, continuing an uninterrupted upward trend since at least 1989” and attributed the rise “primarily to increases in spending by China and India, which together accounted for 62 per cent of total military expenditure in the region in 2020”.
The other top spenders included Russia with $61.7 billion, the UK at $59.2 billion, Saudi Arabia at $57.5 billion, followed by Germany and France at just under $53 billion each.
