“The COVID-19 crisis has made clearer than ever the flaws in our system, one that prioritizes military spending and global instability over the well-being of our people.”
Earlier this week a new analysis was reported showing the world’s military spent a combined $1.9 trillion last year with the U.S. being the top spenders.
According to the most current annual report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the top military spenders after the U.S. were China, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Total spending in 2019 was 3.6% higher than in the previous year and accounted for 2.2% of global gross domestic product (GDP).
Who were the top 10 military spenders in 2019?
1) USA🇺🇸
2) China🇨🇳
3) India🇮🇳
4) Russia🇷🇺
5) Saudi Arabia🇸🇦
6) France🇫🇷
7) Germany🇩🇪
8) UK🇬🇧
9) Japan🇯🇵
10) South Korea🇰🇷Together they spent $1430 billion, accounting for 75% of global military spending ➡️ https://t.co/ZSlbz8iP16 pic.twitter.com/MsiRUPXFAj
— SIPRI (@SIPRIorg) April 27, 2020
“This is the highest level of spending since the 2008 global financial crisis and probably represents a peak in expenditure,” says Nan Tian, a researcher at SIPRI.
According to Aljazeera, as the world heads for a potential global recession, governments will have to weigh military spending against other sectors, such as healthcare and education.
This report comes at a time when the global number of confirmed COVID-19 cases climbed toward three million and the pandemic’s death toll stood at over 207,000, reports Common Dreams.
“The COVID-19 crisis has made clearer than ever the flaws in our system, one that prioritizes military spending and global instability over the well-being of our people. Indeed, global priorities are wrong; it is time for a new era of peace, a global ceasefire as called for by the U.N. and people around the globe. Let us demilitarize the world and invest in global peace and diplomacy,” says the International Peace Bureau (IPB).