Global military spending approached $2.3 trillion in 2023, while the increase in total military spending by almost 7% was the largest since 2009, according to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

"As for global spending: in 2023, it grew for the ninth year in a row and is approaching $2.3 trillion. The increase in total global spending by almost 7% was the largest since 2009. As a result,... the share of military spending in global GDP increased to 2.3%," Mykola Sunhurovskyi, director of military programmes at the Razumkov Center, said at the presentation of the Ukrainian edition of the SIPRI Yearbook 2023: Arms, Disarmament and International Security at the Interfax-Ukraine press center on Wednesday.

According to SIPRI, in 2023, governments spent an average of 7% on the military, or $306 per person.

The United States leads the world in military spending ($916 billion), more than three times higher than China, which is in second place.

In addition, in 2023, some 39 out of 42 European countries increased their spending due to an increase in military spending by Ukraine by 51% and by Russia by 24%. Ten of the 28 European NATO members exceeded the spending target by 2% of GDP.

The SIPRI Yearbook: Arms, Disarmament and International Security is prepared by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). It has been published since 1969 with the aim of familiarizing specialists and the public with events, phenomena and trends in the sphere of international security, primarily in its military-political and military-economic aspects.

The SIPRI Yearbook (in Ukrainian) has been distributed by the Razumkov Center since 2000 among government and parliamentary structures, central government bodies, leading universities, and public libraries in a volume of about 1,000 copies annually. The yearbook is published with the financial support of the Swiss government.