It has been since the time of the Cold Wartherefore from before the late 90s, that the world does not spend so much in weapons and defense systems. Between 2023 and 2024 the largest increase in military spending of the last 35 years occurred, higher than that of the beginning of the millennium following the attacks of 11 September 2001.
The data of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri), the most important research institute in the world for the estimates of military spending. The reasons for this leap, which occurred between 2023 and 2024 are the new international conflicts that broke out all over the world. And next year the trend could continue in this sense.
The war in Ukraine pushes the expense in the West
30 years of relative global stability, with conflicts limited to restricted and in any case small in size. Even when they involved great powers, they had, between the 90s and today, involved a slowdown in the increase in military expenditure in almost the whole world.
The outbreak of the war in Ukraine However, he completely changed the global scenarios. At least as regards investments, this conflict is involving a large part of the world powers which, as underlined by Sipri, are returning to arm themselves.
The most involved countries are obviously Ukrainian and Russia. Kiev spends, to defend himself from the invasion of Moscow, 34% of your GDP in arms. Russia, despite an economy less and less from superpower, is the third country in the world for military spending.
However, the conflict also brought to rearmo in Europe. Germany It climbed in fourth place absolute world, with 77.8 billion euros dedicated to their army, 38% more than 2023.
Israel Riarma the Middle East
For percentage on its gross domestic product, the second country to spend more for its army is Israel. After the attacks of 7 October, Tel Aviv kicked off an invasion campaign of the Gaza Stripof some regions of southern Lebanon and, after the fall of the Bashar al Assad regime, also some areas of Syria.
Military spending between 2023 and 2024 in Israel It jumped by 65%, reaching 40.8 billion euros. An increase that confirms the cold war climate that you breathe in the country: in fact data did not see the six -day war, when most of the Arab countries bordering Israel attempted to invade the country, failing in less than a week.
The United States However, they remain the country that invests most in defense. A highly developed weapon industry and great stocks of equipment have allowed the US to play a key role in weapons supplies, both Ukraine and Israel.
The prospects of military spending
The Sipri study is limited to 2024 and, consequently, does not consider the most recent developments in military spending. Despite recent diplomatic attempts, in fact, neither war in Ukraine nor conflicts in Middle East They seem close to a solution in the short term. This instability also started a rearmament of the European countries, which for years have not increased their military expenditure.
Germany in particular, with the new government of Fridrich Merz, has decided to activate the new European mechanism that allows you to spoil the debt and deficit roof for expenses concerning the army. A first step towards a rearmament of the entire continent, which could further increase the expense.
The European Union itself has promised that it will mobilize, between public and private capital, 800 billion euros For military expenditure, in order to update and above all to integrate the European equipment, mainly involving local companies to decrease the dependence of the continent from the United States.
