Major global actors’ military spending

In response to the challenging security environment, global actors such as Russia, China and India, have been boosting their defence spending (see Figure 5) for years. Global military expenditure grew by 3.7 % in 2022, reaching a new record high of US$2 240 billion. Defence spending in Europe saw its largest year-on-year increase in 30 years, with a total expenditure of US$335 billion.
The Global Peace Index, an annual report produced by an Australian think tank, the Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), confirms that in 2023 global peacefulness continues to deteriorate for the ninth consecutive year. The report also notes that, in 2022, the economic impact was US$449 billion, equivalent to 64 % of Ukraine’s GDP. It also highlights that conflicts are ‘becoming more internationalised with 91 countries now involved in some form of external conflict, up from 58 in 2008’.