The recently-declared world’s most populous country, India—with 1.43 billion people—is only fourth when it comes to global military spending in 2022, says the latest SIPRI report released on Monday.
US, third in population size with 0.33 billion population, leads the chart of military spenders.
According to the SIPRI report, the top five spenders in 2022 were the US ($877 billion), China ($292 billion), Russia ($86.4 billion), India ($81.4 billion) and Saudi Arabia ($75 billion)—together accounting for 63 per cent of the world’s military spending.
India’s rank slipped by one place, one rank lower than the previous year, with Russia having edged up to the third slot over a spike in military spending due to the ongoing war in Ukraine.
However, in a sign that global military spending were fast rising, India’s military spending—totaling $81.4 billion in 2022—was 6 per cent more than in 2021 and by 47 per cent from 2013.
The percentage rise in India’s military spend in 2021 over 2020 was 5.02 per cent. On the other hand, Russia’s military spending is estimated to have grown by 9.2 per cent in 2022.
The latest SIPRI report, released on Monday says: “The increase in India’s spending shows the effects of its border tensions with China and Pakistan. Its expenditure on capital outlays, which funds equipment upgrades for the armed forces and to the military infrastructure along its disputed border with China, amounted to 23 per cent of total military spending in 2022.”
“Personnel expenses (e.g. salaries and pensions) remained the largest expenditure category in the Indian military budget, accounting for around half of all military spending,” the report added.
SIPRI or the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, is among the world’s leading think-tanks on the weapons trade.
The total world military expenditure rose by 3.7 per cent in real terms ((i.e. when adjusted for inflation) to $2,240 billion in 2022—the highest level ever recorded in SIPRI data. The total spend of $2,240 billion is 2.2 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2022.
India’s belligerent neighbour, cash-strapped Pakistan spent $10.3 billion in 2022 and ranked 24th overall.
The impact of the Ukraine war was palpable on Central and West European military expenditure. “The war in Ukraine led to an immediate surge in military expenditure, with many Central and West European countries announcing major increases in spending in the wake of the invasion… Of the 36 Central and West European countries for which SIPRI provides military expenditure figures, 23 increased spending in 2022.”
Another noteworthy aspect was militarisation by Japan which had previously capped military spending at 1 per cent of GDP. The SIPRI report says: “At 1.1 per cent of GDP in 2022, Japan’s military burden surpassed 1.0 per cent for the third consecutive year and was at its highest level since 1960… The planned increase is largely in response to Japan’s perception of growing threats from China, North Korea and Russia.”
