Defence Industry Rakes in Billions as Global Military Spending Hits ‘All-Time High’

Global military expenditure soared to its highest level in over a decade in 2023, reaching an all-time high of $2.4 trillion as war and rumors of war drove spending across the world, researchers said Monday.

The United States, China, Russia, India and Saudi Arabia were respectively the top five spenders overall.

AFP reports military spending rose across the globe with Europe, the Middle East and Asia leading the way in boosting defence outlays, according to a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

“Total military spending is at an all time high … and for the first time since 2009, we saw spending increase across all five geographical regions,” Nan Tian, a senior researcher at SIPRI, told AFP.

Military spending rose by 6.8 percent in 2023, the “steepest year-on-year increase since 2009,” according to the report.