Which are the countries that invest the most in their armies?

The number of conflicts in the world in 1988 was much higher than in 2019. At the height of the Cold War, with wars taking place in Lebanon, the Western Sahara, Afghanistan and the latest battles between Iran and Iraq, the 1980s ended in war. Now, in a world with less warlike hostilities, but with many other threats, such as viruses, technological or commercial wars, etc., military spending has risen to levels not seen since 1988. 

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) has estimated that global military spending in 2019 has been $1.9 trillion, up 3.6% from the previous year and up 7.2% from a decade ago, when the world was experiencing one of the worst economic recessions in living memory. This is equivalent to each of the world's citizens contributing $250 to military spending.  

A changing world and a return to greater competition between states has led both the United States and China to significantly increase their military spending. Both countries are at the top of the ranking carried out by SIPRI and are repeating positions. After Washington and Beijing, the top five includes India, Russia -which represents only one eleventh of the US giant's spending-, and Saudi Arabia. The 15 countries with the highest military spending in 2019 are the same, although they have varied in positions, which, in 2018, are equivalent to 81% of global spending. Moreover, this increase has been generalized among the countries of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), which represent 54% of global spending. 

The military expenditure collected by SIPRI represents 2.2% of the global gross domestic product (GDP). Dr. Nan Tian, SIPRI Researcher, says that "‘global military expenditure was 7.2 per cent higher in 2019 than it was in 2010, showing a trend that military spending growth has accelerated in recent years." 

Military spending by the United States grew by 5.3 per cent to a total of $732 billion. This is almost four times the amount spent by China. The growth in Washington's spending is largely based on a perceived return to competition between the great powers and is due to the increased recruitment of military personnel, which reached 16,000 more, and the modernization of conventional and nuclear weapons. In the heat of the dialectic conflic on nuclear weapons with Iran, it is interesting to note the increasing expenditure in this sector. In South America, the country that spends the most on military services is Brazil, which ranks 11th with an expenditure of $26.9 billion.   

Total expenditure in Europe is half the amount spent in the United States. Furthermore, Eastern Europe spends twice as much as Central Europe. Germany leads military expenditure increases in Europe, probably because of the perception of Moscow as a growing threat, something that is shared by most of the NATO member states; therefore, for example, Bulgaria's military spending also increased by 127%. For their part, the United Kingdom and France have kept their military investment stable.   

Russia is the fourth largest military spending country in the world with an increase of 4.5%, reaching 65,000 million dollars. The war in Georgia in 2008 and the annexation of the Crimea in 2014 have increased the perception of a serious threat from Moscow to not only the Baltic countries, but also to Europe in general.  

Turkey, one of NATO's leading partners, has also seen increased military expenditure, ranking 16th, just ahead of Spain. The military interventions in Syria and Libya in recent years have prompted President Recep Tayyip Erdogan to make a major commitment to his military and defence systems. 

In Asia, China and India are the countries with the highest military spending. This growth is due to rising tensions and rivalries in Beijing, such as the revolts in Hong Kong, as well as New Delhi's worsening situation with Pakistan. The conflict in Kashmir, a mountainous valley on the border between Pakistan and India, escalated last year when Narendra Modi's government promised to incorporate Kashmir to India, leading to clashes between the population and the Indian Army. With $71.1 billion spent, India is the largest spending state in the South Asian region. 

In the case of Africa, spending has increased by 1.5% over last year, the first time in five years that countries on that continent have increased defence spending, to a total of $41 billion. The case of Algeria is striking, which, despite its deep economic and political crisis, increased its budget by almost 8%. Algiers justifies this expenditure by the tension with its neighbour Morocco, the conflict in Libya and the fight against terrorism. 

According to SIPRI, since 2015, due to the data unavailability in Qatar, Syria, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen, it has not been possible to account for the overall expenditure in the area. But two of the countries in this region, Saudi Arabia and Israel, are in the top 15.  

By 2019, and according to an analysis by Bloomberg Economics, the biggest threats arose from international political tensions and decisions by populist and authoritarian governments. Now, in 2020, the biggest threat is COVID-19, a danger that governments did not have in mind. We will have to see, then, how much is spent on military defence this year.