The world spent more on military costs and weapons in 2023 than it had in 35 years, driven in part by the war in Ukraine and the threat of an expanded Russian invasion, according to an independent analysis released on Monday.
The study, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, concluded that global military spending reached $2.4 trillion last year — a 6.8 percent increase from 2022.
“The unprecedented rise in military spending is a direct response to the global deterioration in peace and security,” said Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the institute, which has tracked military expenditures since at least 1988.
He described an “increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape.” Ukraine, in its first full year of war with Russia, devoted $64.8 billion to its military in 2023.
That accounted for 58 percent of the government’s overall spending last year and 37 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
Only seven other countries spent more on military and defense costs than Ukraine in 2023, analysts found.
One was Russia, which Mr. Tian estimated spent $109 billion last year — more than any other country except the United States and China.
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According to an independent analysis released on Monday, the war in Ukraine and the prospect of a larger Russian invasion contributed to the world spending more on military expenses and equipment in 2023 than it had in 35 years.
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute study, the amount spent on military hardware worldwide last year was $2.04 trillion, up 6.8% from 2022. Analysts found that rising tensions in the Middle East and Asia also played a role in the increase, with the United States accounting for over one-third of the total spending at $916 billion, making it the world’s largest supplier of weapons and military spending.
The unprecedented increase in military spending, according to Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the institute that has been monitoring military spending since at least 1988, is a direct reaction to the decline in peace and security throughout the world.
His description of the geopolitical and security landscape was one of increasing volatility. “.
In 2023, during the first full year of its conflict with Russia, Ukraine committed $64 points8 billion to the armed forces. That represented 37% of the nation’s gross domestic product and 58% of all government spending in the previous year. According to analysts, only seven other nations spent more on defense and military expenditures in 2023 than did Ukraine.
One was Russia, which Mr. Tian estimated to have spent $109 billion in 2018 — more than any other nation outside China and the United States. According to Mr. Dot Tian, the projection was made using the $75 billion that Moscow declared in September of last year that it had already spent for 2023. He also mentioned that, depending on the strength of the ruble, Russia’s military spending might reach $127 billion this year.
Nevertheless, the institute came to the conclusion that Russia had invested 5 points9 percent of its GDP, or roughly 16 percent of its total government spending, on its military in 2023 — the highest amount since the breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991. This was despite the secrecy and misinformation surrounding Moscow’s defense investments.
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