In 2024, India's military expenditure was nearly 9 times that of Pakistan: SIPRI

New Delhi: India has emerged as one of the world’s top five military spenders, with the USA and China capturing the first two slots of the chart, while Pakistan is at the 29th position among the 40 highest spending nations on defence, says a new analysis released on Monday.

India used $ 86.1 billion to purchase military items and equipment in 2024, whereas Pakistan spent only $ 10.2 billion, nearly nine times less than India’s expenditure.

China, on the other hand, has spent a mammoth $ 314 billion, which is more than the combined expenditure of nine other Asian nations: India, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Israel, Singapore, Taiwan, Pakistan, Iran and Iraq.

Carried out by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, the analysis says 60 per cent of the world’s military spending came from only five countries – the USA (37 per cent), China (12 per cent), Russia (5.5 per cent), Germany (3.3per cent) and India (3.2per cent).

The report comes at a time when India-Pakistan border tension is on a high following one of the worst terror attacks in Pahalgam, which, according to security experts, was orchestrated by Pakistan.

India, the fifth biggest military spender in the world in 2024, increased its spending to $86.1 billion, up by 1.6 per cent from 2023 and by 42 per cent from 2015, says the SIPRI report.

One of the world’s largest arms importers, India has put in place a policy aimed at reducing its reliance on arms imports and has made significant progress over the years, with the production of armoured vehicles, helicopters and submarines.

Global military expenditure reached $ 2,718 billion in 2024, an increase of 9.4 per cent in real terms from 2023 and the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War.

Military spending increased in all world regions, with particularly rapid growth in both Europe and the Middle East, courtesy of the ongoing Ukraine-Russia war and Israel-Hamas conflict.

Military spending in Europe (including Russia) rose by 17 per cent to $ 693 billion and was the main contributor to the global increase in 2024.

With the war in Ukraine in its third year, such expenditure kept rising across the continent, pushing European military spending beyond the level recorded at the end of the Cold War.

Military spending by the USA rose by 5.7 per cent to reach $997 billion, which was 66 per cent of total NATO spending and 37 per cent of world military spending in 2024.

A significant portion of the US budget for 2024 was dedicated to modernising military capabilities and the US nuclear arsenal to maintain a strategic advantage over Russia and China.

Military expenditure in the Middle East reached an estimated $ 243 billion in 2024, an increase of 15 per cent from 2023, with Israel and Lebanon emerging as the biggest spenders in the region.