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Global arms spending hits record despite downturn - Hurriyet Daily News and Economic Review
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
STOCKHOLM - Agence France-Presse
Global military expenditures soared to a record high last year, unscathed by the economic downturn, with the United States accounting for more than half the increase and Turkey taking its place in the top three among European countries, a Sweden-based think tank said Wednesday.
In its 2010 yearbook, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said spending between 2008 and 2009 grew 5.9 percent. The United States remains the biggest spender, accounting for some 54 percent of the increase, the report said. China, which became the second biggest military spender in 2008, retained that position last year. France was third.
Of European countries, the largest absolute increases (in constant 2008 prices) were in the United Kingdom ($3.7 billion), Turkey ($2.9 billion) and Russia ($2.7 billion).
The largest relative increases in real terms were in Greek Cyprus (21 percent), Turkey (18 percent), Macedonia (18 percent) and Belarus (17 percent), the Swedish think-tank said. Given its financial woes, Greece, which has traditionally devoted a higher percentage of its wealth to defense than most NATO countries, has already decided to cut military spending this year, the report said. Greek Cyprus increased military spending most in real terms, taking inflation into account.
"Many countries were increasing public spending generally in 2009, as a way of boosting demand to combat the recession," explained Sam Perlo-Freeman, the head of SIPRI's military expenditure project.
"Although military spending wasn't usually a major part of the economic stimulus packages, it wasn't cut either," he said in a statement.
The institute said 65 percent of countries for which data was available had hiked their military spending last year.
The United States remains by far the top military spender, dishing out $661 billion to the industry in 2009, or a whopping 43 percent of the total global military expenditure.
China is believed to be the world's second largest military spender, the institute said, adding that while it did not have access to the official figures from Beijing it estimated the country had spent around $100 billion in the sector last year.
With its $63.9 billion in military expenditures last year, France came in third place, SIPRI said.
"The figures also demonstrate that for major or intermediate powers such as the U.S., China, Russia, India and Brazil, military spending represents a long-term strategic choice, which they are willing to make even in hard economic times," Perlo-Freeman said.
A portion of the 2009 military spending hike can be attributed to a sharp increase in so-called peacekeeping operations, especially in Afghanistan, which also reached record levels last year.
In all, 54 peacekeeping missions took place around the globe in 2009, costing a record total of $9.1 billion, SIPRI said.
In terms of deployed personnel, last year was also record-breaking, the institute said: 219,278 people, 89 percent of whom were military personnel, were deployed, up 16 percent from 2008.
"The increase was due to troop reinforcement for existing peace operations, most significantly for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan," the report said.
Wednesday's SIPRI report also estimated that there were around 8,100 operational nuclear warheads in the arsenals of the world's eight nuclear-armed states: the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel.
"Of these, almost 2,000 were kept on high alert and capable of being launched in minutes," the report said.
Wednesday, June 2, 2010
STOCKHOLM - Agence France-Presse
Global military expenditures soared to a record high last year, unscathed by the economic downturn, with the United States accounting for more than half the increase and Turkey taking its place in the top three among European countries, a Sweden-based think tank said Wednesday.
In its 2010 yearbook, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, or SIPRI, said spending between 2008 and 2009 grew 5.9 percent. The United States remains the biggest spender, accounting for some 54 percent of the increase, the report said. China, which became the second biggest military spender in 2008, retained that position last year. France was third.
Of European countries, the largest absolute increases (in constant 2008 prices) were in the United Kingdom ($3.7 billion), Turkey ($2.9 billion) and Russia ($2.7 billion).
The largest relative increases in real terms were in Greek Cyprus (21 percent), Turkey (18 percent), Macedonia (18 percent) and Belarus (17 percent), the Swedish think-tank said. Given its financial woes, Greece, which has traditionally devoted a higher percentage of its wealth to defense than most NATO countries, has already decided to cut military spending this year, the report said. Greek Cyprus increased military spending most in real terms, taking inflation into account.
"Many countries were increasing public spending generally in 2009, as a way of boosting demand to combat the recession," explained Sam Perlo-Freeman, the head of SIPRI's military expenditure project.
"Although military spending wasn't usually a major part of the economic stimulus packages, it wasn't cut either," he said in a statement.
The institute said 65 percent of countries for which data was available had hiked their military spending last year.
The United States remains by far the top military spender, dishing out $661 billion to the industry in 2009, or a whopping 43 percent of the total global military expenditure.
China is believed to be the world's second largest military spender, the institute said, adding that while it did not have access to the official figures from Beijing it estimated the country had spent around $100 billion in the sector last year.
With its $63.9 billion in military expenditures last year, France came in third place, SIPRI said.
"The figures also demonstrate that for major or intermediate powers such as the U.S., China, Russia, India and Brazil, military spending represents a long-term strategic choice, which they are willing to make even in hard economic times," Perlo-Freeman said.
A portion of the 2009 military spending hike can be attributed to a sharp increase in so-called peacekeeping operations, especially in Afghanistan, which also reached record levels last year.
In all, 54 peacekeeping missions took place around the globe in 2009, costing a record total of $9.1 billion, SIPRI said.
In terms of deployed personnel, last year was also record-breaking, the institute said: 219,278 people, 89 percent of whom were military personnel, were deployed, up 16 percent from 2008.
"The increase was due to troop reinforcement for existing peace operations, most significantly for the NATO-led International Security Assistance Force, or ISAF, in Afghanistan," the report said.
Wednesday's SIPRI report also estimated that there were around 8,100 operational nuclear warheads in the arsenals of the world's eight nuclear-armed states: the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France, India, Pakistan and Israel.
"Of these, almost 2,000 were kept on high alert and capable of being launched in minutes," the report said.
