ZURICH, April 25 — RIA Novosti. Military spending in the world last year exceeded a record two trillion dollars for the first time, Russia ranked fifth in terms of defense spending, behind the United States, China, India and the United Kingdom, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
It is noted that as a result of the active economic recovery around the world in 2021, world military spending amounted to 2.2 percent of world GDP, in 2020 this figure reached 2.3 percent.
The top five countries with the largest defense budgets in 2021 included the United States, China, India, Britain and Russia, which together accounted for 62 percent of global military spending.
According to SIPRI, US military spending in 2021 amounted to $801 billion, which is 1.4 percent less than in 2020. According to the report, from 2012 to 2021, the United States increased funding for military research and development by 24 percent, while reducing spending on the purchase of weapons by 6.4 percent.
The second place was taken by China, which spent $ 293 billion on defense, which is 4.7 percent more than in 2020. India's military spending, which ranked third, totaled $76.6 billion last year, which is 0.9 percent more than in 2020.
According to SIPRI estimates, the UK allocated $68.4 billion for defense last year, which is three percent more than in 2020.
Russia closes this top five.
"Russia has increased its military spending by 2.9 percent in 2021, to $65.9 billion, while it has been building up its forces along the Ukrainian border. This was the third year of growth in a row, and Russia's military spending reached 4.1 percent of GDP in 2021," the report says.
According to Lucy Bero-Sudro, director of the SIPRI program for military spending and arms production, whose words are quoted in the message, high revenues from the sale of oil and gas allowed Russia to increase military spending in 2021. According to her, they declined from 2016 to 2019 as a result of low energy prices combined with sanctions in response to the reunification of Crimea with Russia in 2014.