UK boosts military spending, mirroring sharp global increase in defense outlays
(Originally published April 24 in “What in the World“) War in Ukraine and the Middle East, combined with rising tensions in the Pacific, helped push global military spending up 6.8% in 2023 to $2.4 trillion.
The 2023 increase was the largest since 2009, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, raising military outlays to their highest since the Institute began tracking them in 1998. Governments worldwide now spend $306 per person a year on weapons, the highest level since 1990.
The United States continues to dominate spending on weapons, accounting for $916 billion, or 37%, of the 2023 global total, according to SIPRI. It is followed by China and Russia, which combined spent less than half what the U.S. did, with an estimated $405 billion. The U.S. also leads in terms of spending relative to its economy, devoting 3.4% of its GDP to arms investments. That proportion is exceeded only by Poland (3.8%), Kuwait (4.9%), Israel (5.3%), Oman (5.4%), Russia (5.9%), Saudi Arabia (7.1%), Algeria (8.2%), and of course Ukraine (37%).
Not to be outgunned, U.K. Prime Minister Rishi Sunak this week pledged to boost Britain’s annual defense spending to 2.5% of the nation’s GDP, or 87 billion pounds ($108 billion) by 2030. SIPRI estimates it spent 2.3% of GDP on the military last year.
Which countries are arming fastest? Algeria boosted spending by 76% last year, edging out Poland at 75% and Finland at 54%. But over the past decade, the fastest build-ups have taken place in Ukraine, Poland, and Denmark.
Interestingly, military spending as a percentage of GDP has declined in the U.S. in the past decade, from 3.7% to 3.4%, while in China it is has remained steady at just 1.7%. The biggest increase in military spending relative to economic size has taken place in Ukraine, Algeria, and Poland.
Most of these new weapons are coming from the U.S. SIPRI also tracks the global arms trade and it estimates that the U.S. share of global arms exports grew to 42% in 2023, from 40% in 2022. The U.S. now supplies weapons to 107 nations, according to SIPRI, more than any other arms exporter.
Modern warfare is growing increasingly sophisticated, with small drones and artificial intelligence systems like the Pentagon’s Project Maven helping commanders pinpoint targets for precision attacks. But good, old-fashioned artillery remains indispensable for obliterating an enemy. Israel is demonstrating that with its latest efforts to uproot Hamas in Gaza with what residents described Tuesday as a non-stop barrage of shelling across Gaza by tanks and warplanes.