Telling Numbers: US and China account for half of world’s military spending

Military spending by the US increased for the first time since 2010, while spending by China grew for the 24th consecutive year, SIPRI found.

World military spending in 2018 represented 2.1% of global gross domestic product (GDP) or $239 per person. “In 2018 the USA and China accounted for half of the world’s military spending,” SIPRI quoted Dr Nan Tian, a researcher with its Arms and Military Expenditure (AMEX) programme, as saying.

‘The higher level of world military expenditure in 2018 is mainly the result of significant increases in spending by these two countries.” In 2018, India increased its military spending by 3.1% to $66.5 billion, SIPRI found, while military expenditure by Pakistan grew by 11% (the same level of growth as in 2017), to reach $11.4 billion in 2018.

Source: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

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