India becomes world’s fifth largest military spender

According to Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), India has become world’s fifth-largest military spender spending at $55.9 billion in 2016. The US remains the world’s largest military followed by China, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. The other prominent spenders in the top 15 include Japan, South Korea, and Australia.

Global trends

Global military spending amounted to 2.2% of the worldwide GDP. Military spending as a share of GDP, was highest in the Middle East and lowest in the Americas. In Asia and Oceania, military expenditure increased by 4.6% in 2016 spurned by many tensions in the region such claims of territorial rights made by various countries in the South China Sea.
The US is the top spender whose military expenditure grew 1.7% between 2015 and 2016 to $611 billion. The growth in US military expenditure suggests the end o the trend of decreases in spending that resulted from the economic crisis and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq. Even now the expenditure of US remains 20% lower than its peak in 2010.
China spent $215 billion. Russia spent $69.2 billion making it this editions third largest spender. Saudi Arabia which was the third largest spender in 2015 is ranked at 4^th position in 2016 with a spending of $63.7 billion. Pakistan did not figure in the list of top 15 spenders and it spent $9.93 billion.
Military expenditure in Western Europe has increased for the second consecutive year. Falling oil revenue forced many oil-exporting countries to reduce military spending.

SIPRI

SIPRI was established in 1966 as independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. The organization provides data, analysis and recommendations to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.

Month: Current Affairs - April, 2017