Posted in Military Matters

Global Military Spending Continues to Rise Amid Epidemic Shock China’s Military Spending Increases for 26 Consecutive Years

 2021年4月26日

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in Sweden released a study on global military spending in 202o on Sunday evening, which noted that despite the huge impact of the new crown epidemic on the global economy, global military spending still increased by 2.6 percent to nearly $2 trillion.

The SIPRI military spending study notes that global gross domestic product (GDP) shrank by 4.4 percent in 2020, but military spending increased by 2.6 percent to $1 trillion 98.1 billion.

Last year, the world’s top military spenders were the United States, China, India, Russia and the United Kingdom, which together accounted for 62 percent of the world’s total military spending, with China’s military spending increasing every year for 26 consecutive years. In 2020, China’s military spending is estimated to be $252 billion; the United States is in the seven consecutive years of cuts, after the first two years began to resume the trend of increasing, 2020 is the third consecutive year of increasing U.S. military spending, an increase of 4,4%, the total amount of $778 billion, the authors of the report told AFP, did not find that the new U.S. President Joe Biden intends to reduce military spending.

In addition to the two major military powers, Russia, the United Kingdom and Germany have all seen important increases in military spending, as have the neighboring countries of China, Japan, India, Australia and South Korea.

However, the new epidemic did affect military spending in some countries, with Russia and Brazil increasing their military spending less than previously planned, and Chile and South Korea using part of their military budgets to respond to the epidemic.

In addition, sub-Saharan Africa saw an unprecedented increase in military spending last year, with Chad, Mali, Mauritania and Nigeria increasing their military budgets by 31%, 22%, 23% and 29%, respectively.

The only region in the world that saw a decrease in military spending was South America, where military spending fell by 2.1% due to a reduction in the military spending of Brazil, a major South American military power.