Copenhagen, 24 April 2023 (dpa/MIA) — Global military spending reached a new high in the year of Russia's invasion of Ukraine. It rose by an inflation-adjusted 3.7% to $2.24 trillion in 2022, according to a report published on Monday by the Stockholm-based peace research institute SIPRI.

Without adjusting for inflation, the increase would be as high as 6.5%.

Europe saw the highest increase in at least 30 years - an inflation-adjusted 13% - due largely to sharp increases in spending by Russia and Ukraine. Military aid to Kiev and concerns about a stronger threat from Russia also influenced the spending decisions of many other countries, according to SIPRI.

Globally, the world's countries continued to spend more money on the military than in the previous year for the eighth year in a row. 

"The continuous rise in global military expenditure in recent years is a sign that we are living in an increasingly insecure world," explained SIPRI researcher Nan Tian.

The clear leader in spending remains the United States, followed by China and Russia, which jumped from fifth to third place due to the war.

Ukraine recorded an increase of 640% and now lies in 11th place after ranking 36th the previous year. Germany remains seventh after a 2.3% increase.

The annual SIPRI report is considered the world's most comprehensive collection of data on countries' military spending.

The peace researchers include expenditures for personnel, military aid, and military research and development.

The Russia-related worries have been building up for a long time.

Many former Eastern bloc states have more than doubled their military spending since 2014, the year of Russia's annexation of Crimea.

States in Central and Western Europe spent a total of $345 billion on the military in 2022. Adjusted for inflation, this was the first time they surpassed the level of 1989, when the Cold War ended.

After an increase of 0.7%, the United States ended up spending $877 billion, including $19.9 billion in military aid for Ukraine. This gives Washington a 39% share of global spending and is three times that of second-place China.

Coming in third, Russia increased its military spending by 9.2% to an estimated $86.4 billion. India and Saudi Arabia complete the top five.