Copenhagen, 24 Apr. Spain increased its military spending by 7.3% year-on-year in 2022 to 20.3 billion dollars (18.5 billion euros), according to a report published this Monday by the Stockholm International Institute for Peace Research (SIPRI).
This figure, which is equivalent to 1.5% of the Spanish gross domestic product (GDP), allows it to rank as the sixteenth country that spent the most on weapons last year, one position lower than in 2021 and represents an increase of 28%. in the last decade.
The increase in Spanish military spending is part of an upward trend registered in 2022 throughout Europe, which returned to magnitudes not seen since the end of the Cold War, due to the conflict in Ukraine.
Europe was the continent that registered the highest year-on-year increase in arms purchases, 13%, which together with the increase in tensions in East Asia contributed to world spending reaching a record figure of 2.2 trillion dollars (2 trillion euros), 3.7% more year-on-year in real terms (double not counting inflation) and the equivalent of 2.2% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
The report highlights that 345,000 million dollars (315,000 million euros) were spent in Central and Western Europe, 30% more than in 2013 and a figure that exceeds that of 1989 for the first time, coinciding with the end of the Cold War.
Finland, with 36% more, Lithuania (27%), Sweden (12%) and Poland (11%) experienced the most pronounced increases in the military budget, and the plans launched by several countries suggest that spending in the area will continue growing in the future, highlights SIPRI.
Russia, third on the world list, raised its military investment by 9.2% to close to 86,400 million (78,860 million euros), 4.1% of its GDP, while Ukraine experienced a record increase of 640%, 34 % of its GDP, not counting donations received from other countries.
Despite the increases registered in Europe and other areas, the United States maintains its indisputable dominance worldwide: it spent 877,000 million dollars (880,469 million euros), 39% of the total and three times more than China, the second in the list.EFE
alc/gc/ig
