The United States was responsible for nearly 40% of global military spending in 2022.
The US military spent $877 billion, 10 times more than Russia ($86.4 billion), and three times more than China ($292 billion).
US military expenditure in 2022 was bigger than the next 10 largest spenders combined.
This means the Pentagon spent more than China, Russia, India, Saudi Arabia, Britain, Germany, France, South Korea, Japan, and Ukraine combined.
US military spending was higher than the next 10 countries combined in 2022. Five years ago, it was higher than only the next nine. How much safer do y’all feelhttps://t.co/VIq8pwChRI pic.twitter.com/FX47O8Uego
— Stephen Semler (@stephensemler) April 29, 2023
This is according to data published this April by the Sweden-based Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
SIPRI calculated that the planet’s total military expenditure was $2.24 trillion in 2022.
The United States, at $877 billion, thus made up 39.2% of total global military spending.
The US-led NATO alliance spent a total of $1.23 trillion, meaning it was responsible for just over half (55%) of global military spending.
SIPRI reported that real military spending in Europe, adjusted for inflation, is at the highest levels since 1989, toward the end of the first cold war.
Europe is the region with the fastest growing military spending, the study found.
Business Insider noted that the US federal government only dedicated $76.4 billion in discretionary spending for education in 2022, meaning it spent over 10 times as much on the military.
The Joe Biden administration has requested a mere $90 billion for education in 2024, compared to $842 billion for the military, Business Insider pointed out.
Moreover, all of these figures could be very conservative, given the US Department of Defense is notoriously opaque in its accounting.
Bloomberg reported that the Pentagon made $35 trillion in “accounting adjustments” in 2019, as well as $30.7 trillion in adjustments in 2018.
These irregularities in the Pentagon’s accounting are larger than the entire US economy.
The US Department of Defense has failed every audit it has ever tried.