Ukraine military spending increased by record 640% year-on-year – Stockholm think tank

In a historical record, Ukraine's military spending in 2022 increased by 640 percent, to USD 44 billion, or 34 percent of GDP, the Stockholm Institute of Peace Research (SIPRI) said in a report published on Monday.

Before Russia’s full-scale invasion, Ukraine was in the top four in terms of military spending, but in 2022, it fell to 11th place, slightly falling behind Japan.

The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database has been tracking annual military spending by countries since 1949.

Russia, which launched a full-scale war against Ukraine in 2022, also increased its military spending – by 9.2 percent, to USD 86.4 billion, according to SIPRI data. Russia is one of the world's top three defence spenders, behind the United States (USD 877 billion) and China (USD 292 billion).

World military expenditure increased by 3.7 percent in real terms in 2022, reaching a new record high of USD 2.24 trillion, the eighth consecutive year it has shown growth.

In Europe, military spending grew by 13 percent, largely due to Russia’s aggression against Ukraine, as the assistance provided to Ukraine and the growing threat from Russia forced other countries to revise their military budgets upwards.

Earlier, it was revealed that Ukraine became the third largest arms importer in the world in 2022.