Ukraine War Helped Push World Military Spending to 35-Year High, Study Says

The world spent more on military costs and weapons in 2023 than it had in 35 years, driven in part by the war in Ukraine and the threat of an expanded Russian invasion, according to an independent analysis released on Monday.

The study, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, concluded that global military spending reached $2.4 trillion last year — a 6.8 percent increase from 2022. Growing tensions in Asia and across the Middle East also contributed to the rise, analysts found, while the United States alone spent $916 billion — more than one-third of the total — as the world’s largest military spender and weapons supplier.

“The unprecedented rise in military spending is a direct response to the global deterioration in peace and security,” said Nan Tian, a senior researcher at the institute, which has tracked military expenditures since at least 1988.

He described an “increasingly volatile geopolitical and security landscape.”