By Shakir Husain
NEW DELHI — India was the world’s third-biggest military spender in 2019 after the United States and China, data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) shows.
Total global military expenditure was more than US$1.9 trillion in 2019, an increase of 3.6 per cent from 2018 and the largest annual growth in spending in a decade, the think-tank said on Monday.
The US, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia accounted for 62 per cent of expenditure.
China’s military expenditure last year reached US$261 billion, a 5.1 per cent increase compared with 2018, while India’s grew by 6.8 per cent to US$71.1 billion.
“India’s tensions and rivalry with both Pakistan and China are among the major drivers for its increased military spending,” said Siemon T. Wezeman, SIPRI’s senior researcher.
Among other Asian top military spenders, Japan’s expenditures were US$47.6 billion and South Korea spent US$43.9 billion.
The US accounted for 38 per cent of global military spending, which increased by 5.3 per cent to US$732 billion last year.
“The increase in US spending in 2019 alone was equivalent to the entirety of Germany’s military expenditure for that year,” SIPRI said.
— BERNAMA
