Different countries continue to scale up their defense arsenal while aiming to emerge on top. Notably, several countries are spending significant amounts to flex their muscles in the global defense scene.
According to data acquired by Finbold, the top five countries with leading defense budgets are expected to spend $1.1 trillion through 2021 cumulatively. The United States remains the biggest spender at $740 billion, followed by China at $178.2 billion. India ranks third at $73.65 billion, followed by Germany at $57.43 billion. Among the five defense budgets, the United Kingdom ranks fifth at $55 billion in spending.
Interestingly, the total spend by the five countries has plunged 4.3% from last year’s figure of $1.15 trillion. Last year, the United States defense spending was $750 billion, representing a drop of 1.26% compared to this year’s amount. Elsewhere, China’s spending was at $237 billion in 2020, dropping 24.81%.
Among the five countries, India and Germany had the highest growth rates of 20.73% and 14.86% between 2020 and 2021, respectively. The U.K.’s defense spending slightly increased by 1.7%.
The factors influencing defense spending
The report identifies some of the factors behind the significant spending by the select countries. According to the research report:
“Notably, the general instability in the Middle East region has previously compelled the U.S. and European countries to spend more. However, the emerging Afghanistan crisis will potentially result in a refugee crisis that will call for more soldiers, possibly altering the spending among various countries globally. Therefore, countries from Europe and Asia might potentially see their defense spending increase.”
The defense spending is projected to change as more countries invest in various sectors like cutting-edge technology.
