Record military spending: Ukraine war spurs highest investment since cold war

FRANCE 24 English

Visit our website: http://www.france24.com  Like us on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English  Follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/France24_en

Transcript

00:00 A world preparing for war.

00:03 The latest report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows global military

00:08 expenditure rose by 3.7 percent in 2022 to hit nearly $2.25 trillion, an all-time high.

00:17 We are living in an increasingly insecure world.

00:20 States are bolstering military strength in response to a deteriorating security environment,

00:24 which they do not foresee improving in the near future.

00:28 The U.S. remains the world's top military spender, its $877 billion making up 39 percent

00:35 of the world's total.

00:37 China a distant second at $292 billion.

00:41 The increased defense spending driven in large part by Russia's invasion of Ukraine.

00:47 Ukraine's military spending increased by 640 percent in 2022 to account for some 34 percent

00:54 of GDP, not including a massive influx of military aid from the West.

01:00 The war, meanwhile, has forced a major reevaluation of Europe's defense preparedness.

01:05 Western and Central European defense budgets shot up by 13 percent last year to hit $345

01:11 billion, the fastest increase in three decades.

01:15 Nordic and Baltic states accounted for some of the sharpest increases, with Finland spending

01:20 up 36 percent.

01:22 Germany, meanwhile, has reversed decades of underfunding its military to rise to number

01:27 seven on the list of defense budgets.

01:31 Also driving armament, though, tensions in East Asia, including China's increasingly

01:35 aggressive posture towards the South China Sea and Taiwan.

01:40 2022 saw Japan's defense spending hit its highest level since 1960, as the country responds

01:46 to perceived threats from China, North Korea and Russia.

Category

Transcript

Be the first to comment

Recommended