World military spending grows despite pandemic
Military expenditure worldwide rose to practically $2 trillion in 2020, defying the economical impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, researchers said Monday.
Global military spending increased by 2.6 percent to $1,981 billion (about 1,650 billion euros) in 2020, when global GDP shrank 4.4 percent, according to a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Diego Lopes da Silva, among report’s authors, told AFP the development was unexpected.
“As a result of pandemic, you might think military spending would decrease,” he said.
“But it’s possible to summarize with some certainty that Covid-19 didn't have a significant effect on global military spending, in 2020 at least,” Lopes da Silva said.
He cautioned however that as a result of nature of military spending, it might devote some time for countries “to adjust to the shock”.
The fact that military spending continued to increase in a year with an financial downturn meant the “military burden”, or the share of military spending out of total GDP, had increased aswell.
The entire share rose from 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent, the greatest year-on-year increase since the financial crisis of 2009.
Therefore, more NATO members hit the Alliance’s guideline target of spending at least two percent of GDP on the military, with 12 countries doing this in 2020 compared to nine in 2019.
