World Spends $1.2 Trillion On Militaries: Study — U.S. Military Spending Up Five Percent

STOCKHOLM, Sweden The world’s nations collectively spent $1.2 trillion on their militaries last year, according to the annual report of a European research institute.

Total military spending was up by 3.5 percent, with the United States’ military expenditures up five percent or $529 billion from last year.

The audit by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) also found that China, Japan, Britain, and France each increased their expenditures by four to five percent.

The five biggest military spenders comprise nearly two-thirds of the world’s total military spending.

The largest arms suppliers in 2002 to 2006 were the United States and Russia. The largest arms importers were China and India with five Middle Eastern countries in the top ten.

The report noted that for the first time, China outpaced Japan in military expenditures and is now the Asian continent’s biggest military spender with the fourth largest military in the world.

Japan reduced its military spending for the fifth straight year in favor of a missile defense.

The Institute added that the U.S. and European nations exported arms to Israel, Saudi Arabia, and the United Arab Emirates were larger than Russian arms exports to Iran.