World military spending grows despite pandemic, report shows

Shafaq News / Military expenditure worldwide rose to nearly $2 trillion in 2020, defying the economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute said. 

Global military spending increased by 2.6 percent to $1,981 billion (about 1,650 billion euros) in 2020, when global GDP shrank 4.4 percent.

Diego Lopes da Silva, one of the report's authors, told AFP the development was unexpected.

"Because of the pandemic, one would think military spending would decrease," he said.

"But it is possible to conclude with some certainty that COVID-19 did not have a significant impact on global military spending, in 2020 at least," Lopes da Silva said.

He cautioned, however, that due to the nature of military spending, it could take time for countries "to adapt to the shock".

The fact that military spending continued to increase in a year with an economic downturn meant the "military burden", or the share of military spending out of total GDP, had increased as well.

The overall share rose from 2.2 percent to 2.4 percent, the largest year-on-year increase since the financial crisis of 2009.

As a result, more NATO members hit the Alliance's guideline target of spending at least two percent of GDP on their military, with 12 countries doing so in 2020 compared to nine in 2019.