India has been ranked the fourth Military spender in 2018 even as the expenditure on military rose to 2.6 per cent in 2018. The United States, China and Saudi Arabia are the three other countries that top the list of military spending in 2018, according to Stockholm International Peace and Research Institute (SIPRI). In 2017, India was in the fifth position.
France comes in the fifth position in 2018 followed by Russia. The data from SIPRI says that the first four countries account for 60 per cent of the spending on military expenditure. It says that the total Military expenditure in 2018 was 1822 billion dollars, which was a 2.6 per cent increase than in 2017.
India’s military expenditure stood at 66.5 billion dollars and the country’s spending rose by 29 per cent over the last ten years. The expenditure in 2018 was 3.1 per cent more than in 2017.
The Military expenditure of the US rose for the first time in seven years, according to the data. The expenditure of US Military stood at 649 billion dollars in 2018. China also increased its military budget by 5 per cent. Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia decreased its military expenditure by 6.5 per cent, Russia by 3.5 per cent and France by 1.4 per cent.
In 2018, China spent 250 billion dollars, which was ten times higher than in 1994. SIPRI also notes China has been following a policy of linking military expenditure with economic growth. Saudi Arabia has spent 67.6 billion dollars, the data reveals.
As per SIPRI data, military expenditure in countries situated in Central America, South America, North America, Caribbean, Central/ Western Europe, East Asia and Central/South Asia increased.
Pakistan with spending of 11.4 billion dollars stood at 20th position in the table. The peace watchdog also points out that the military expenditure of Pakistan has been increasing over the years since 2009. In the last ten years, the expenditure rose by 73 per cent.
