India’s military expenditure grew around 8.5 per cent in 2016, making it the world’s fifth largest spender at USD 55.9 billion, figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
As per the figures, the US remains the world’s largest military spender registering a growth of 1.7 per cent between 2015 and 2016 to $611 billion.
Four others in the top 15 spenders include China, Japan, South Korea, Australia.
China is second on the list spending $215 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent.
Russia increased its spending by 5.9 per cent to $69.2 billion, making it the third largest spender.
Global military spending amounted to 2.2% of the worldwide GDP.
Military spending as a share of GDP, was highest in the Middle East and lowest in the Americas.
In Asia and Oceania, military expenditure increased by 4.6% in 2016 spurred by many tensions in the region such claims of territorial rights made by various countries in the South China Sea.
The US is the top spender whose military expenditure grew 1.7% between 2015 and 2016 to USD 611 billion.
The growth in US military expenditure suggests the end o the trend of decreases in spending that resulted from the economic crisis and the withdrawal of US troops from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Even now the expenditure of US remains 20% lower than its peak in 2010. China spent USD 215 billion. Russia spent USD 69.2 billion making it this edition's third largest spender.
Saudi Arabia which was the third largest spender in 2015 is ranked at 4th position in 2016 with a spending of USD 63.7 billion.
Pakistan did not figure in the list of top 15 spenders and it spent USD 9.93 billion. Military expenditure in Western Europe has increased for the second consecutive year.
Falling oil revenue forced many oil-exporting countries to reduce military spending.
SIPRI: Know More- SIPRI was established in 1966.
- It is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
- The organization provides data, analysis and recommendations to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public.
