(VOVWORLD) - Global military spending rose to a record last year as the Russia-Ukraine conflict drove the biggest annual increase in expenditure in Europe since the end of the Cold War three decades ago, a leading conflict and armaments think tank said on Monday.
World military expenditure rose by 3.7% in real terms in 2022 to more than 2.2 trillion USD, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a statement.
European military spending shot up 13% last year, primarily due to increases by Russia and Ukraine, but with many countries across the continent also ramping up military budgets and planning for more amid the surging tensions.
Ukraine's military spending rose 640% in 2022, the largest annual increase recorded in SIPRI data going back to 1949.
Though the United States was the world's top spender by far its overall expenditure rose only marginally in real terms. Meanwhile, Russia's military spending grew by an estimated 9.2%.