Global defence spending rises 9% to record $2.2tn

Ukrainian service personnel prepare shells in Zaporizhzhia region. The country’s defence budget increased nearly nine times to $31.1bn during 2023. Photograph: Reuters

Global defence spending increased by 9% to a record $2.2tn during 2023 driven by heightened geopolitical tensions caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, according to an annual assessment by a military thinktank.

The International Institute of Strategic Studies added that it expected budgets to increase further in 2024 as the war continued into a third year and international uncertainty spread across the Middle East in the wake of the Israel-Gaza war.