UK named world’s fourth-biggest defence spender in 2021
A new report says the UK moved into the world’s top five military spenders in 2021, while the US remains the biggest spender by far. James Wharton25th April 2022 at 5:18 pm
The UK was the world’s fourth-largest spender on defence in 2021, according to a new report.
The annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) also revealed that global military expenditure exceeded $2trn for the first time.
The top five highest-spending nations together accounted for 62% of all global defence spending, it said.
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According to SIPRI, the UK moved up two places from the previous year, accounting for $68.4bn – a 3% increase from 2020.
The UK was one place ahead of fifth-placed Russia, with Moscow spending $65.9bn – a rise of 2.9%.
The US has remained the world’s biggest defence spender by some distance, spending $801bn in 2021 – a fall of 1.4% from 2020.
The report also said that, while European military spending has increased 19% since 2012, just eight of the continent’s 26 NATO member countries met the 2% gross domestic product (GDP) target on defence spending.
Nine European nations hit the GDP target in 2020.
SIPRI said the UK is the second-largest spender on defence within NATO, behind only the US.
Meanwhile, Ukraine’s military spending grew by 72% between 2014 and 2021 and has increased by 142% since 2012.
This upward trend was interrupted in 2021 when Ukraine’s military spending fell by 8.5% to $5.9bn – 3.2% of the country’s GDP.
Elsewhere, the UK, US and Australian trilateral security agreement – AUKUS – announced last year contributed to Australia’s defence expenditure increasing by 4% from 2020 to $31.8bn. Since 2012, Australia’s military spending has increased by 42%.
The top 10 countries with the highest military expenditure in 2021, according to SIPRI, were:
- United States $801bn
- China $293bn (estimated)
- India $76.6bn
- United Kingdom $68.4bn
- Russia $65.9bn
- France $56.6bn
- Germany $56bn
- Saudi Arabia $55.6bn (estimated)
- Japan $54.1bn
- South Korea $50.2bn
SIPRI was established in 1966 and conducts research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament. Its annual reports on global military expenditure provide analysis based on open-source information.