According to SIPRI’s report, the rise in defense budgets was observed globally, and total global military spending reached $2.44 trillion in 2023, with Poland’s expenditures totaling $31.6 billion, ranking 14th globally in terms of size.
Global military expenditures had been steadily increasing for nine years, but the 6.8 percent rise in 2023 was the largest since 2009. All top 10 countries with the highest military budgets, including the U.S., China, and Russia, increased their spending.
The institute highlighted that foreign military aid to Ukraine helped narrow the gap between Ukrainian and Russian military expenditures. In 2023, Moscow allocated $109 billion to its military, a 24 percent increase from the previous year.
Ukraine ranked eighth globally in terms of military spending, which grew by 51 percent to $64.8 billion in 2023, 41 percent less than Russia. However, when adding foreign military assistance worth at least $35 billion, including $25.4 billion from the United States, Ukraine’s total spending was only 9 percent less than Russia’s.
NATO countries collectively spent $1.34 trillion on defense, accounting for 55 percent of global spending. The United States, with a defense budget of $916 billion, contributed to 68 percent of NATO’s total spending, though there was also an increase in the share of European NATO members reaching the highest level in a decade.
Lorenzo Scarazzato, an analyst at SIPRI, noted that the war in Ukraine over the past two years has fundamentally changed security perspectives for European NATO members, leading to an increase in defense spending relative to GDP, with the NATO target of 2 percent increasingly seen as a benchmark rather than a threshold to achieve.
It was noted that a decade ago, NATO countries formally committed to allocating 2 percent of GDP to defense. In 2023, this threshold was reached or exceeded by 11 of the 31 NATO Alliance members, the highest since the commitment was made.
SIPRI also noted a rise in military spending in the Middle East, including Israel’s increase due to its offensive in the Gaza Strip in response to Hamas’ attack in October 2023. Military expenditures also significantly increased in Central America and the Caribbean, attributed to the actions of the armed forces there against organized crime.
