In News
- Recently, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published new data on global military spending.
Key Findings
- All time high: World military spending continued to grow in 2021, reaching an all-time high of $2.1 trillion despite the economic fallout of the pandemic.
- Five Largest Spenders in 2021:
- The U.S,
- China,
- India,
- the U.K and
- Russia
- Global world military expenditure:
- The global world military expenditure as a share of the world gross domestic product (GDP), fell by 0.1 percentage points, from 2.3% in 2020 to 2.2% in 2021.
- Five Largest spenders together accounted for 62% of expenditure and the U.S. and China alone accounted for 52%.
- Asia and oceania:
- It totaled to $586 billion in 2021. Spending in the region was 3.5% higher than in 2020, continuing an uninterrupted upward trend dating back to at least 1989.
- The increase in 2021 was due primarily to growth in Chinese and Indian military spending. Together, the two countries accounted for 63% of total military expenditure in the region in 2021.
- Russia:
- Increased its military expenditure by 2.9% in 2021, to $65.9 billion, at a time when “it was building up its forces along the Ukrainian border.
- This was the third consecutive year of growth and Russia’s military spending reached 4.1% of GDP in 2021.
- High oil and gas revenues helped Russia to boost its military spending in 2021.
- Ukraine:
- It had strengthened its defences against Russia, its military spending has risen by 72% since the annexation of Crimea in 2014, spending fell in 2021, to $5.9 billion, but still accounted for 3.2% of the country’s GDP.
Image Courtesy: SIPRI
- NATO Members Spending:
- Eight European North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) members reached the Alliance’s target of spending 2% or more of GDP on their armed forces in 2021.
- This is one fewer than in 2020 but up from two in 2014.
- Findings for India
- India’s military spending of $76.6 billion ranked third highest in the world.
- This was up by 0.9% from 2020 and by 33% from 2012.
- Amid ongoing tensions and border disputes with China and Pakistan that occasionally spill over into armed clashes, India has prioritised the modernization of its armed forces and self-reliance in arms production.
- In a drive to strengthen the indigenous arms industry, 64% of capital outlays in the 2021 Indian military budget were earmarked for acquisitions of domestically produced arms.
Challenges for India
- Opportunity Costs:
- Defence spending also has opportunity costs because it diverts resources from government programs that might do more to promote growth.
- Maintaining strong army:
- India has to maintain an over 15-lakh strong armed forces because of the two active and unresolved borders with China and Pakistan.
- Huge Pension Spending:
- India’s annual military expenditure also includes a huge pension bill for 33-lakh veterans and defence civilians.
- In the 2021-2022 defence budget, for instance, the pension bill was Rs. 1.15 lakh crore out of the total Rs 4.78 lakh crore outlay.
Way Ahead
- With an assertive China, malicious Pakistan, and an unstable Afghanistan, securing India’s security environment should be top priority of India.
- India has to continuously focus on achieving self-reliance in defence while building on the achievements of recent years.
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Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
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