STOCKHOLM — The world’s military spending grew by only 1.3 percent in 2010, thanks to budget constraints caused by the global financial crisis, with the top three arms investors being the United States, China and Britain, a think tank said today.
South America was the region with the largest military- spending growth of 5.8 percent, with countries such as Brazil seeking to increase their international influence, said the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The institution, known as SIPRI, said global military spending in 2010 grew at the lowest rate since 2001.
It said the United States topped the list by spending $698 billion last year, followed by China with $119 billion and the United Kingdom with $59.6 billion.
SIPRI said the rise in spending in South America was partly driven by increased staff costs and internal security threats in some countries but that the change also should be seen in light of the region’s strong economic growth and relatively limited exposure to the world financial crisis.
In many other countries, military-investment growth slowed or decreased as governments dealt with budget constraints, SIPRI said.
Arms-investment growth in Asia slowed to 1.4 percent, reaching a total of $317 billion, and weapons outlays in Europe fell by 2.8 percent to $382 billion in 2010.
U.S. arms-investment growth slowed to 2.8 percent in 2010, compared with growth of 7.7 percent in 2009. However, the watchdog said the share of U.S. gross domestic product spent on arms increased to 4.8 percent in 2010, from 4.6 percent in 2009, and noted the country accounted for $19.6 billion of the total $20.6 billion global increase in 2010.
“Even in the face of efforts to bring down the soaring U.S. budget deficit, military spending continues to receive privileged treatment,” SIPRI said in the report.
