Why in News?

• ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2019’ was recently released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
• According to the report, the global military expenditure rose to $1917 billion in 2019 with India and China emerging among the top three Spenders.

Global Scenario:

• Global military spending was 2.2% of the global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) with an increase of 3.6% from 2018. The increase of 3.6% was the largest annual growth in spending since 2010.
• Top five largest spenders accounted for 62% of the global expenditure.
• The top most countries spending on military are as USA>China>India>Russia>Saudi Arabia.
• India was at the 4th position in 2018 with Saudi Arabia at the 3^rd.

India Specific Data:

• India’s defence expenditure is growing in absolute terms but defence expenditure has been going down as a percentage of its GDP, due to the increasing trend in the growth of GDP.
• In 2019, the expenditure was 2.4% of India’s GDP which was lower than that of 2.7% in 2010.
• Total Defence Allocation, including Defence Pension, accounted for 15.48% of the total Central Government expenditure for the year 2019-20.
• It was 6.8% more than that of 2018 and has grown by 37% over the decade of 2010–19. If compared to 1990, it has gone up by 259%.
• Total defence budget accounts for 15.49% of the total central government expenditure for the year 2020-21. It shows a growth of 9.37% over Budget Estimates 2019-20.
• India’s tensions and rivalry with both Pakistan and China are among the major drivers for its increased Military Spending.

About SIPRI:

• Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)  hink tank is an independent international institute dedicated to research into conflict, armaments, arms control and disarmament.
• It was established in 1966 at Stockholm (Sweden).
• It provides data, analysis and recommendations, based on open sources, to policymakers, researchers, media and the interested public