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Amid the growing tensions between India and Pakistan in wake of the Pahalgam terror attack, a study by a leading Swedish think-tank has found that India’s military spending in 2024 was nearly nine times that of Pakistan’s expenditure.

India's military expenditure, the fifth largest globally, grew by 1.6 per cent to USD 86.1 billion while Pakistan's spent USD 10.2 billion, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

The top five military spenders -- the United States, China, Russia, Germany and India -- accounted for 60 per cent of the global total, with combined spending of USD 1635 billion, it said.

China's military expenditure increased by 7.0 per cent to an estimated USD 314 billion, marking three decades of consecutive growth, the study noted.

The communist nation accounted for 50 per cent of all military spending in Asia and Oceania, investing in the continued modernisation of its military and expansion of its cyberwarfare capabilities and nuclear arsenal, it said in the report titled "Trends in World Military Expenditure 2024".

The SIPRI said military spending in Europe (including Russia) rose by 17 per cent to USD 693 billion and was the main contributor to the global increase in 2024.

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

The SIPRI said Russia's military expenditure reached an estimated USD 149 billion in 2024, a 38 per cent increase from 2023 and double the level in 2015.

This represented 7.1 per cent of Russia's GDP and 19 per cent of all Russian government spending.

Ukraine's total military expenditure grew by 2.9 per cent to reach USD 64.7 billion -- equivalent to 43 per cent of Russia's spending.

At 34 per cent of GDP, Ukraine had the largest military burden of any country in 2024, the report added.

"Russia once again significantly increased its military spending, widening the spending gap with Ukraine," said Diego Lopes da Silva, Senior Researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.

"Ukraine currently allocates all of its tax revenues to its military. In such a tight fiscal space, it will be challenging for Ukraine to keep increasing its military spending," he said.

Several countries in central and western Europe saw unprecedented rises in their military expenditure in 2024 as they implemented new spending pledges and large-scale procurement plans, SIPRI said.

It said Germany's military expenditure increased by 28 per cent to reach USD 88.5 billion, making it the biggest spender in central and western Europe and the fourth biggest in the world.

Poland's military spending grew by 31 per cent to USD 38.0 billion in 2024, representing 4.2 per cent of Poland's GDP, according to SIPRI.

(With PTI inputs)

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