Global military spending was $1.82 trillion from 2017 to 2018

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published research which shows that overall global military expenditures rose 2.6 percent between 2017 and 2018 with the total being $1.82 trillion.

Huge increases in military spending from earlier

The increase to 2018 is 5.4 percent larger than 2009 and a huge 76 percent increase over 1998 two decades ago.

US is still by far the number one military spender

Of the five biggest military spenders in 2017 the US is by far the largest. According to one article: "The top five biggest spenders were the United States, China, Saudi Arabia, Russia and India, which accounted for 60 percent of global military spending.The U.S. spent $610 billion on its military in 2017, a little over a third of world wide expenditures. Although U.S. spending has decreased from 2008 levels by 14 percent, it still spends 2.7 times more than the next highest spender, China."

In 2018 Russia drops out of the top five: "Sixty percent of global military spending came from five countries: The United States ($649 billion), China ($250 billion), Saudi Arabia ($67.6 billion), India ($66.5 billion) and France ($63.8 billion). Russia ($61.4 billion) and the United Kingdom ($50 billion) were the other two countries to spend $50 billion or more on defense."

Over the last year the amount of increase varied among the big spenders. The US under Trump was up 4.6 percent the first hike since 2010. China spent 5 percent more and India 3.1 percent more. Saudi Arabia cut spending by 6.5 percent, France by 1.4 percent and Russia by 3.5 percent.

Spending per global citizen was $239 or 2.1 percent of world GDP, just a 0.1 percent decrease over a year and a 0.5 percent decrease over a decade.

China has had increase each year for decades

China's military spending is almost ten times higher than it was in 1994. It has increased spending each year for the last 24 years. However, this may be coming to an end or at least slowing. The annual growth rate of Chinese defense spending has been slowing. In 2015, it reached a high sine 2009 of 9.3 percent. In 2018 its growth was just 5.0 percent. China has so far linked defense spending to economic growth. Its growth slowed in 218 to the lowest in several decades so if China continues to follow its earlier policy military spending may grow more slowly.

Six Middle East countries have high ratio of military spending to GDP

Of the top ten countries with highest military spending to GDP in 2018 six are in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia spends 8.8 percent of its GDP on the military. Oman spends 8.2 percent. Kuwait 5.1 percent. Lebanon 5 percent. Jordan 4.7 percent and finally Israel at 4.3 percent.

The appended video shows the top 10 countries projected military spending and the percentage of GDP of each budget. Notice that Saudi Arabia spends a high percentage of its GDP on the military.

Previously published in the Digital Journal

Saudi Arabia has third largest military expenditures

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute(SIPRI) estimates global military spending at $1.7 trillion for the year 2015. This is the first year-on-year increase since 2011.

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Global military spending increased one percent from last year. The data was released to coincide with the start of the Stockholm Forum on Security and Development. The report can be found here.

The United States is by far the biggest spender on the military with more than a third of global spending. In second place is China. The big news is that Saudi Arabia is now in third place, ahead of Russia. Saudi Arabia's military spending has more than doubled since 2006. Recent spending increases may be due to Saudi attempts to defeat Houthi rebels in Yemen. A civil was has been raging for over a year including an extensive bombing campaign led by the Saudis. Military expenditures dropped in Venezuela by a whopping 64 percent, while in Angola it dropped 40 per cent.

The US spent $596 billion last year, a decline of 2.4 percent from 2014. China's expenditure rose by 7.4 percent to $215 billion. Saudi expenditures rose 5.7 percent to $87.2 billion. Russia's expenditure was $66.4 billion.

Sam Perlo-Freeman, head of SIPRI's group the measures military expenditures said: "Military spending in 2015 presents contrasting trends, On the one hand, spending trends reflect the escalating conflict and tension in many parts of the world; on the other hand, they show a clear break from the oil-fueled surge in military spending of the past decade. This volatile economic and political situation creates an uncertain picture for the years to come."Saudi Arabia is increasing military spending even in spite of the steep decline in oil prices as is Russia.

Military spending is growing in Asia and Oceania, Central and Eastern Europe and in some Middle Eastern states. After recent declines in the West spending is now leveling off. In Africa, Latin America, and the Caribbean regions all show decreased spending. SIPRI notes that it includes in military spending much more than just expenditure on armaments:Military expenditure refers to all government spending on current military forces and activities, including salaries and benefits, operational expenses, arms and equipment purchases, military construction, research and development, and central administration, command and support. SIPRI therefore discourages the use of terms such as ‘arms spending’ when referring to military expenditure, as spending on armaments is usually only a minority of the total.