T-14 Armata tank. File photoZURICH, Apr 25 Global military spending topped a record $2 trillion last year for the first time, with Russia ranked fifth in defense spending behind the US, China, India and the UK, report says Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
"In 2021, world military spending for the first time exceeded the two trillion US dollar mark, reaching $2,113 billion. Global spending in 2021 was 0.7 percent higher than in 2020 and 12 percent higher than in 2012", says SIPRI's annual report.
It is noted that as a result of the active recovery of the economy around the world in 2021, global military spending amounted to 2.2 percent of global GDP, in 2020 this figure reached 2.3 percent. The top five countries with the largest defense budgets in 2021 included the United States, China, India, Britain and Russia, which together accounted for 62 percent of global military spending.NATO leaders decide to increase defense spendingAccording to SIPRI, U.S. military spending in 2021 was $801 billion, down 1.4 percent from 2020. According to the report, from 2012 to 2021, the United States increased funding for military research and development by 24 percent, while reducing spending on arms purchases by 6.4 percent. China came in second place, spending $293 billion on defense, up 4.7 percent. more than in 2020. India, in third place, spent $76.6 billion in military spending last year, up 0.9 percent from 2020. SIPRI estimates that the UK spent $68.4 billion on defense last year, up three percent more than in 2020. Russia rounds out the top five. its military spending by 2.9 percent in 2021, to $65.9 billion, as it built up its forces along the Ukrainian border, the third consecutive year of growth, and Russia's military spending reached 4.1 percent of GDP in 2021 year,» the report says. According to the director of the SIPRI program for military spending and arms production, Lucy Bero-Sudro, whose words are quoted in the message, high revenues from the sale of oil and gas allowed Russia to increase military spending in 2021. According to her, they were declining from 2016 to 2019 as a result of low energy prices combined with sanctions in response to the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014. jpg» />In Germany, the plan to rearm the Bundeswehr was called «madness»