Last year, a record $2 trillion was spent on armaments around the world. The United States is the leader in military spending. But Russia also upgraded significantly in 2021.
Global military spending will hit record levels in 2021, according to the latest report from the Stockholm peace research institute Sipri. They rose for the seventh time in a row and exceeded the two trillion dollar mark (1.85 trillion euros), as Sipri expert Diego Lopes da Silva told the AFP news agency on Monday. “That’s the highest value we’ve ever had.” Before invading Ukraine, Russia was heavily armed.
Russia’s massive rearmament
Moscow’s military spending rose 2.9 percent year-on-year to $65.9 billion. Defense spending accounted for 4.1 percent of Russia’s gross domestic product (GDP), which is “much higher than the world average,” Lopes da Silva stressed. This made Moscow the fifth largest spending country in the world.
The high oil and gas revenues have helped the country increase its military spending, the expert added. Towards the end of the year, Russia saw a sharp increase in spending. “This happened as Russia was deploying troops on the Ukrainian border, which of course preceded the invasion of Ukraine in February.”
Whether Russia will be able to sustain spending is difficult to predict given the wave of sanctions the West has imposed in response to the war in Ukraine, Lopes da Silva said. The sanctions are even tougher now than they were after the annexation of Crimea in 2014, “but we also have higher energy prices that could help Russia keep military spending at this level.”
Ukraine’s military spending increased by 72 percent
On the other hand, Ukraine’s military spending has increased by 72 percent since the annexation of Crimea. In 2021, while spending fell by over eight percent to €5.6 billion, it still accounted for 3.2 percent of Ukraine’s GDP.
Overall, global military spending rose 0.7 percent to $2.1 trillion last year. Other NATO countries also increased their spending. Eight members of the defense alliance have achieved the target of two percent of GDP in military spending. In view of the Ukraine war, Lopes da Silva expects a further increase in spending in Europe.
USA, China and Germany: Increasing spending
Germany spent 51.8 billion euros on its defense in 2021, equivalent to 1.3 percent of GDP. This puts the Federal Republic in third place in the expenditure ranking of the countries of Central and Western Europe. Military spending nonetheless fell 1.4 percent compared to 2020 due to inflation. In the ten-year period, however, Germany’s military spending increased by 24 percent.
The United States spent the most on defense in the world, at $801 billion (€740 billion). In percentage terms, however, bucking the global trend and due to inflation, spending fell by 1.4 percent compared to 2020. The second largest military spender in the world increased its spending by 4.7 percent. It recorded an increase in spending for the 27th year in a row.
Greenpeace: “Dangerous way”
The environmental organization Greenpeace reacted with concern to global record spending on armaments. “The international community is thus on a highly dangerous path and has forgotten a crucial lesson from the past: More money for weapons does not necessarily mean more security,” said Greenpeace disarmament expert Alexander Lurz.
With the planned 100 billion special assets for the Bundeswehr, Germany has “made a massive contribution to the global armaments spiral.” Lurz called on the federal government to “question the dimension of the planned rearmament.”
Source: Stern
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