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These 15 countries had the biggest military budgets in 2016

The latest SIPRI report on the 15 nations with the highest military budgets reveals that Japan has the eighth-largest military expenditure worldwide.

This makes Japan the second-largest military spender in Asia, after China, but since 1988 (when this data was first available) it has consistently spent only around 1% of GDP, making it one of the smaller spenders on this measure. It accounted for only 2.7% of total global military expenditure in 2016, and growth in Japan’s military spending over the last decade is the lowest of the 15 nations, at 2.5%.

 

Russia replaces Saudi Arabia in the top three

SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) has been compiling data on individual nations’ military expenditure since 1949. The latest, 2016, report reveals a slight change in the ranking. Military giants US and China remain at number one and number two, but Russia has overtaken Saudi Arabia to appear in third place, with Saudi slipping to fourth.

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Total military expenditure by the 15 nations grew to US$1.36trillion , accounting for 81% of global military spending. This represents growth of 0.4% YoY in real terms.

The US accounts for 36% of global military expenditure, but its military spending has fallen 4.7% over the last decade, while China’s has risen 118%. There has also been sharp growth in military expenditure by Russia (87%), the United Arab Emirates (123%) and India (54%), but the UK and Italy have both reduced their military outlay (by 12% and 16%, respectively).

As a proportion of GDP, Saudi Arabia spends the most at 10% (SIPRI estimate), while Russia and the UAE spend around 5-6%.

 

Military spending grew fastest in Asia and Oceania

By region, military expenditure grew fastest in the Asia and Oceania region in 2016, at 4.6% growth to US$450billion. Whilst this is a slower rate of growth than in the previous two years, the region’s military expenditure is forecast to continue to increase in response to rising tensions between North and South Korea, and between China and Japan.

Military spending continued to grow in Europe (2.4-3.6%) and North America (1.7%), but military spending accounted for a relatively low proportion of GDP for the European nations ranked within the top 15, at just 1.2-2%.

A number of small republics feature among the nations seeing the largest increase in military expenditure between 2015 and 2016, including Latvia (up 44% to US$470million), Botswana (up 40% to US$515million) and Lithuania (up 35% to US$636million). The Philippines saw the steepest growth in spending in the Asia and Oceania region (up 20% to US$3.899billion).

 

Top 15 biggest military spenders of 2016


Source: Shutterstock

15th (15th in 2015): Israel (US$18.0billion)

14th (14th): UAE (US$22.8billion)

13th (12th): Brazil (US$23.7billion)

12th (13th): Australia (US$24.6billion)

11th (11th): Italy (US$27.9billion)

10th (10th): Korea (US$36.8billion)

9th (9th): Germany (US$41.1billion)

8th (8th): Japan (US$46.1billion)

7th (6th): UK (US$48.3billion)

6th (5th): France (US$55.7billion)

5th (7th): India (US$55.9billion)

4th (3rd): Saudi Arabia (US$63.7billion)

3rd (4th): Russia (US$69.2billion)

2nd (2nd): China (US$215.0billion)

1st (1st): US (US$611.0billion)

(By ZUU Japan)

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