ArmInfo. Armenia entered the top ten countries whose defense spending exceeds 4% of GDP. This is stated in the report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on world military spending in 2019. Thus, the report notes that, starting in 2010, in general, the world has seen a decrease in the military burden of states. SIPRI analysts note that the global military burden has declined over the past 9 years, with the exception in 2015 and 2019.
Moreover, according to the report, the military burden in the countries of the Americas last year averaged 1.4% of GDP, for African countries - 1.6%, in Asia, Oceania, and Europe, this figure was 1.7% and the highest average of 4.5% is in the Middle East. "Of the 149 countries about which SIPRI has data on the military burden for 2019, 10 states allocate 4.0% or more of their GDP for military spending, 13 countries have a military burden of 3.0-3.9% of GDP, 24 - 2.0-2.9%, 65 countries - 1.0-1.9%, and 34 less than 1.0%. At the same time, the three countries have no military spending and, consequently, no burden, these countries are-Costa Rica, Iceland and Panama. 6 out of 10 countries with a military burden of 4.0% or more are in the Middle East - this is Oman, which spent 8.8% of its GDP on the defense industry (the highest level in the world), followed by Saudi Arabia (8.0 %), Kuwait (5.6%), Israel (5.3%), Jordan (4.7%) and Lebanon (4.2%). Algeria (6.0%), Armenia (4.9%), Azerbaijan (4.0%) and Pakistan (4.0%) also entered the top ten, "the report says.
To note, according to the presented report, the total military spending of the countries of the world in 2019 increased by 3.6% compared to the previous year and exceeded $ 1.9 trillion. According to the study, world military spending in 2019 reached perhaps the highest level in history, an increase of 7.2% compared to 2010.
The top 5 countries in military spending in 2019 included: the US - $ 732 billion, an increase of 5.3% in 2019 compared with the previous year; China - $ 261 billion, an increase of 5.1%; India - $ 71.1 billion, an increase of 6.8%; Russia - $ 65.1 billion, an increase of 4.5%; Saudi Arabia - $ 61.9 billion, an increase of 16%. These five countries account for 62% of global military spending. The leaders in military spending growth are Germany, whose spending rose 10% to $ 49.3 billion. This was the largest spending increase among the 15 countries with the highest military spending in the world in 2019, the study said.