Global military spending falls for the first time since 1998.
According to SIPRI, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, global military spending fell to 1.75 trillion US dollars in 2012, a decrease of 0.5% compared to 2011. The United States remains the biggest military spender in the world, with a budget about five times that of China. However, that budget decreased by more than 6% last year, meaning the US was responsible for less than 40% of the global total for military spending for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union twenty years ago.
Perlo-Freeman explained, “We are seeing what could be the beginning of a shift in the balance of global military spending of wealthy Western countries to emerging regions.” The downward trend is in stark contrast to the changes observed in China. The world’s second largest economy has increased its military spending by 7.8%, so is $11.5 billion more than in 2012.
Latin America saw its military spending increase by 4.2% in 2012. Paraguay and Venezuela have seen the largest increases, each with a rise of more than 40%. In Mexico, the increase was 9.7%, a consequence of the increasing involvement of the army in the fight against drug cartels.
Finally, Russian military spending has increased by 16% in one year, by more than $12 billion, placing it third in the world. Vladimir Putin, who returned as head of state in May, is publicly open about his desire to increase Russian military power. In February, he told Russian state media: “The era demands a determined policy of strengthening the air and space defense systems (…) there can not be too much patriotism on this matter.”
http://www.euronews.com/2013/04/15/global-military-spending-falls-for-the-first-time-since-1998-/
Declines related to our withdrawal from Iraq and draw down in Afghanistan coupled with NATO's large decline in military spending more than offset increases in Russia, China and others. We still spend 5 times more on our military than #2 China spends.
