Growth in military spending in 2015. Especially in Asia

Global growth is 1%. US top spenders, followed by China, then Saudi Arabia and Russia. The drop in oil prices has levelled military spending in Venezuela and Angola. Nevertheless, spending increases in Algeria, Russia, Vietnam. Saudi Arabia has so far spent 5.3 billion dollars on its intervention in Yemen. In the period 2006-2015 Iraq has increased military spending by 536%.

 

Stockholm (AsiaNews) - Military spending in the world grew by 1% in 2015, bringing the total to about 1700 billion dollars. A large proportion of this spending was registered in Asia, with China and Saudi Arabia high in global rankings.

This is what emerges from the report released today by SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), which specializes in these statistics.

SIPRI notes that the increase this year is reversing a trend that had lasted since 2011. The growth is significant in Asia and Oceania, Central Europe and the Middle East, but decreases in Western Europe, Africa and Latin America.

The United States remains at the top in military spending, 596 billion dollars, despite having reduced the budget by 2%. China has spent 215 billion, an increase of 7.4%; Saudi Arabia marked a growth of 5.7% with 87.2 billion, taking third place in the standings, ahead of Russia, whose growth was 7.5% with 66.4 billion.

SIPRI notes that there are two factors influencing data: the first is related to situations of tension in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, in the South China Sea; the second is the price of oil which in 2014 began to descend reducing earnings for many producing countries.

Due to the lowering of oil prices, Venezuela’s military spending is conspicuously reduced (minus 64%) and that of Angola (minus 42%), but there are also reductions in Bahrain, Brunei, Kazakhstan and South Sudan.

Despite reduced earnings from oil, several exporting countries have continued to increase military spending. These include Algeria, Russia, Vietnam, and especially Saudi Arabia, whose military intervention in Yemen so far has cost $ 5.3 billion.

SIPRI cautions that it is impossible to have accurate data. for countries around the Middle East. For those countries for which data is available, an 4.1% increase in military expenditure is estimated for 2015. Iraq has registered the biggest increase of all. In the period from 2006 to 2015 military spending in Iraq increased by 536%, the largest increase in the world for that period.

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