This is the amount the world has spent in 2022 for world military expenditure. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) published this data today. This is a 3.7% growth in real terms, a 19% growth over the last 10 years. US, China, India, Russia and Saudi Arabia together account for 63% of this spending.
It is without saying, that the Russian invasion into the Ukraine and the tension between China and the rest of the world, fuel a climate of insecurity and vulnerability. For the majority of the political systems and leaders, this results in a consequence to increase the capability to defend themselves and/or offensively act in war.
As much as I understand the insecurity and the need to protect land, people and values – I do believe there need to be an active and vocal dialogue to reduce military actions and expenditure in the future. The trend to increase these expenditures is wrong. There are bigger problems to solve on this planet than increasing the capability to defend assets. Whether it is climate, poverty or migration of people – we have to focus on these things to make this a better planet.
And I don’t want to get into the debate what could be done with this amount of money…
