Global Defense Spending Reaches Highest Levels on Record: Report

Military spending across the world last year reached the highest levels ever recorded by a major global think tank, rising to $2.4 trillion in 2023, according to a new report.

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said the $2.4 trillion in global defense spending last year represented a 6.8% increase over 2022 and is the ninth consecutive year of increase of military spending.

Global military spending per person reached $306, the highest number recorded by SIPRI since 1990.

“The increase in global military spending in 2023 can be mainly attributed to the ongoing war in Ukraine and the escalation of geopolitical tensions in Asia, Oceania and the Middle East,” researchers wrote in the report. “Military spending increased in all five geographic regions, with large spending increases recorded in Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East.”

The Hill previously reported how global defense spending has increased with the return of great-power competition and a more multipolar world. This has led countries to rethink critical national security priorities and policies, from Europe to the Indo-Pacific.

According to the SIPRI report, the US and China account for about half of all global defense spending and the top 10 spenders account for 74% of all military spending.

The US spent $916 billion on defense last year, far more than any other country. China spent $296 billion on defense last year, becoming the second biggest spender and increasing its military budget by 6% from 2022.

SIPRI noted that China has increased its military expenditure over the past 29 years, but that it has slowed down over the past 10 years, in line with a lagging economy.

The third biggest spender was Russia, with US$109 billion, an increase of 24% compared to 2022, while India was the fourth biggest spender, with US$83.6 billion, and Saudi Arabia was fifth, with $75.8 billion, according to the report.

Russia is spending 5.9 percent of its total economic output on the war, according to the SIPRI report, which noted that Moscow’s numbers in the report may not be entirely accurate due to the opacity of the financial system since the war in Ukraine.

In East Asia, defense spending has soared as tensions rise in the Indo-Pacific between China and the US and its allies, the report shows.

Japan, which has moved away from a long-standing pacifist policy and is moving to increase military funding, spent about $50 billion last year, which is 11% more than in 2022 and 31% more than than in 2014.

Taiwan, an autonomous island nation threatened by China, increased its military budget by 11% last year.

In Europe, defense spending increased to $588 billion, an increase of 16% compared to 2022 and 62% compared to 2014, SIPRI concluded.

The rise in defense spending on the continent comes as NATO members try to meet a target of 2 percent of economic output for defense spending, a goal driven more urgently by the war in Ukraine.