The world is arming. Since the end of cold war, this is the first time world has seen this much rise in military spending. While Covid has affected the globe economically since the last year, it has still not put much of a dent in the military expenditure of most countries. Due to Covid we do not have definitive figures for 2020 military spending as they vary with every source and some countries keep their military budget secret, so it’s hard to tell who is spending how much. But we have reasonable data from 2019 to indicate how much top 10 countries in the world spent on military and it gives a pretty good idea of highest military spending in world.
1. United States
According to experts, the USA remains the undisputed country with the largest military spending top 10 countries in the world. The 2019 balance sheet was $ 738 billion – 35 percent of global military spending. The US budget was 14 percent lower than in 2008 (the share of gross domestic product fell from 4.2 to 3.4 percent). However, 2017 marked a turnaround. US military spending had fallen every year since 2010, according to SIPRI. In 2017, however, they remained at the previous year’s level for the first time and it has only risen since then.
2. China
Estimates also had to suffice for China. 261 billion dollars mean second place in the armaments ranking in 2019 as well. According to SIPRI, the People’s Republic has more than doubled its military spending since 2008 (plus 110 percent). The share in the gross domestic product remained constant at 1.9 percent.
3. India
India is arming. The country swapped places with France in the 2017 ranking and has been rising since then. According to SIPRI, the Indian government spent 71.1 billion dollars on the military in 2019. That was 45 percent more than in 2008. The sharp increase is apparently mainly due to the booming economy – or the exchange rate to the dollar. The share of military spending in gross domestic product fell from 2.6 to 2.4 percent.
4. Russia
Russia rose up to fourth place in the SIPRI ranking. As in the past decade, it has been upgrading. Military expenditures of 65.1 billion dollars rose by 36 percent compared to 2008. The share of the gross domestic product decreased to 3.9 percent.
5. Saudi Arabia
The SIPRI experts could only guess at Saudi Arabia’s military spending. In their view, the country spent around $ 61.9 billion on its military in 2019. That would be eight percent of the gross domestic product (2008: 7.4 percent).This is a decrease from previous years and with that, Saudi Arabia fell to fifth place. Compared to 2008, military spending increased by 34 percent.
6. France
France slipped from fifth to sixth. The peace research institute SIPRI put the military expenditure in 2019 at 50.8 billion dollars. They increased by 5.1 percent compared to 2008, but overall it is a decrease from previous years. The share in the gross domestic product remained constant at 1.9 percent.
7. India
India is arming. The country swapped places with France in the 2017 ranking and has been rising since then. According to SIPRI, the Indian government spent 71.1 billion dollars on the military in 2019. That was 45 percent more than in 2008. The sharp increase is apparently mainly due to the booming economy – or the exchange rate to the dollar. The share of military spending in gross domestic product fell from 2.6 to 2.4 percent.
8. Great Britain
With $ 48.7 billion, the UK remains in 8th place on the SIPRI list. The UK recorded the largest drop in the top 10 in the past decade, down 15 percent. The share in the gross domestic product fell from 2.3 to 1.7 percent.
9. Japan
Japan also stuck to its position from last year. The country financed its military with $ 47.6 billion. That was 4.4 percent more than in 2008. Japan uses 0.9 percent of its gross domestic product for its army.
10. South Korea
South Korea opens SIPRI’s top 10 states with the largest military budget top 10 countries in the world. The neighbor of North Korea spent around 43.9 billion dollars on its army in 2019 and maintained the previous year’s position. Compared to 2008, military spending increased by 29 percent. And the share in the gross domestic product increased to 2.7 percent.