Stats IQ: Military Expenditure

Military Expenditure

• SIPRI: ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2022’ has been recently published by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global security think tank. Its major findings are:
• Increase in Global Military Expenditure:  There is a year-on-year jump of 3.7% in worldwide military expenditure which is an all-time high and follows several years of continuously higher spending.
  • The year-on-year increase also accounts for military aid, which has risen due to Russia’s war in Ukraine.
  • The United States alone has contributed more than $47 billion to Ukraine’s defense.
• Arms Exporting Countries (2018-22): The five largest arms exporters were the United States, Russia, France, China and Germany.  
• Arms Importing Countries (2018-22): 5 largest arms importers in the world were India, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Australia and China.
  • 3 of the top 10 importers during 2018-22 were in the Middle East — Saudi Arabia, Qatar and Egypt.
• Global Arms Transfer: While the global level of international arms transfers decreased by 5.1%, imports of major arms by European states increased by 47% between 2013–17 and 2018–22 in the backdrop of war in Ukraine.
  •  France is gaining a bigger share of the global arms market as Russian arms exports decline.
  • France’s arms exports increased by 44% between 2013-17 and 2018-22 and most of these exports were to countries in Asia and Oceania and the Middle East.
  • United States’ share of global arms exports increased from 33 to 40 % while Russia’s fell from 22 to 16%.
  • The imports by Pakistan, the world’s eighth-largest arms importer during 2018-22, increased by 14$, with China as its main supplier.
  • Arms imports to East Asia have increased and those to the Middle East remain at a high level.
• India’s Arms Outlook: India remained the world’s top arms importer, but its imports declined by 11% between 2013-17 and 2018-22.
  • Cause of Decline: The decline was due to complex procurement process, efforts to diversify arms suppliers and attempts to replace imports with local design.
  • Largest Arm Suppliers to India: Among the exporters of weapons to India, Russia was the largest supplier of arms to India in both 2013–17 and 2018–22, but its share of total Indian arms imports fell from 64% to 45%.
    • France emerged as the second largest supplier (29%) to India between 2018-22 displacing the US (11%).
    • India also imported arms during this five-year period from Israel, South Korea, and South Africa.
  • India Exporting Arms to Other Countries: India was the third largest arms supplier to Myanmar after Russia and China accounting for 14% of its imports.
  • Cause of India’s Arms Import: India’s tensions with Pakistan and China largely drive its demand for arms imports.
    • Consequently, India has 11% share of total global arms imports.

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