UNITED NATIONS—Chinese, Russian and Saudi Arabian defense spending increased the most last year, while US spending fell, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
China’s defense spending rose 9.7 percent from a year earlier, to $216 billion, and Russia’s increased 8.1 percent, to $84.5 billion, the research group said in its annual report on global defense spending adjusted for inflation.
Saudi Arabia had the biggest percentage increase among the top 15 spenders worldwide, rising 17 percent, to $80.8 billion.
While the US remains by far the world’s largest military spender, its defense spending in 2014 fell 6.5 percent, to $610 billion, reflecting a 20-percent decrease since 2010, according to the report.
The report focuses on countries that spend more than 4 percent of their gross domestic product on defense.
The figures reflect intensifying global turmoil.
Russia’s March 2014 annexation of Crimea sparked a conflict in Ukraine, and tensions simmer over territorial disputes in the East and South China Seas.
Saudi Arabia continues to arm militants in Syria, joined a US-led coalition against the Islamic State group, and last month launched air strikes against Iranian-backed rebels in Yemen.
The data do not reflect the sharp fall in oil prices in late 2014, and it’s unclear what effect that may have, the institute said in the report.
Many oil-producing countries in the Middle East, such as Saudi Arabia, are expected to be able to withstand any effects because of the “strong financial reserves” they accumulated during several years of high oil prices.
That’s not the case for Russia, which planned its spending increase before the start of the crisis in Ukraine.
Russia already has cut its planned spending for this year in consideration of its battered economy, the institute said.
Russia still expects to have a substantial increase in total military spending for 2015—about 15 percent in real terms—to $66 billion).
In contrast, North Atlantic Treaty Organization nations are unlikely to increase their spending to meet the required target of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
Most of Western and Central Europe will see a downward trend from continued austerity policies while Baltic, Nordic and Eastern European countries that border Russia boost expenditures to withstand the Russian threat.
China’s military spending has generally kept pace with its economic growth rate, with expenditures remaining a fairly steady share of GDP of 2 percent to 2.2 percent over the past decade, the research group said.
Japan spent about the same amount it did in 2013, dropping in rank to the world’s ninth-largest spender, according to the report. India took Japan’s place last year as the seventh-largest.
Bloomberg News/TNS
Image credits: AP/Saudi Press Agency