World military spending hits record high

Source: Press TV
http://www.presstv.ir/detail/174171.html

The world's military spending has increased to a record high of $1.6 trillion in 2010, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) says.

The Swedish think-tank said on Monday that the global military spending rose 1.3 percent in 2010, indicating that budget constraints caused by the worldwide financial crisis has slowed the growth of military investment, Reuters reported.

The institute also announced that the top three arms investors are the US, China and Britain, underlining that South America was the region with the largest military spending growth of 5.8 percent.

The Unites States, with extravagant military operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, increased the arms investment by 2.8 percent to $698 billion -- about six times as much as China which is the world's second-biggest spender followed by Britain, France and Russia.

The head of the institute's military expenditure project, Sam Perlo-Freeman, said, “The United States has increased its military spending by 81 percent since 2001... At 4.8 percent of gross domestic product, US military spending in 2010 represents the largest economic burden outside the Middle East.”

China also increased its military expenditures by 3.8 percent in 2010 to $119 billion.

SIPRI said its figures include salaries, costs for operations, purchases of arms and equipment as well as research and development.