Pakistan military expenditure increased by 73% between 2009 and 2018, and by 11% between 2017 and 2018.
This is declared according to a new report released on Monday by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
In 2018, Pakistan military expenditure was $11.4 billion, making it the 20th-largest spender globally.
As per the SIPRI data, Pakistan is among the top 10 countries with the highest military burden. “A state’s military expenditure as a share of GDP — also known as the military burden — is the simplest measure of the relative economic burden the military places on that state,” the report explains.
“Pakistan’s military burden in 2018 was 4.0% of GDP — the highest level since 2004,” it states.
“Six of the 10 countries with the highest military burden in the world in 2018 are in the Middle East: Saudi Arabia (8.8% of GDP), Oman (8.2%), Kuwait (5.1%), Lebanon (5.0%), Jordan (4.7%) and Israel (4.3%).”
“The other four are Algeria (5.3%), Armenia (4.8%),
Pakistan (4.0%) and Russia (3.9%).”
China, meanwhile, remains the world’s second-largest military spender, allocating $250 billion to the military in 2018, which accounted for 14% of global spending.
Another key finding of the SIPRI report was that United States military spending has risen for the first time in seven years, reflecting the Trump administration’s policy.
