New Delhi, April 16
China and Russia have increased their defence spending, while India and the USA have reduced theirs. Also, globally the defence spending has seen the first decline in 15 years, says data of think-tank the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released globally last night in Sweden.

The report details the military spending of 172 countries in 2012 and points at how military spending is rising in Asian countries where tension are on the upswing while 18 European Union countries have imposed a cut.

China remains the world’s second largest defence spender for 2012, shelling out $ 157 billion, an increase of $11.5 billion over 2011. Russia follows at the third spot behind with a spending of $ 90 billion, an increase of $12.3 billion. The USA, despite cuts imposed, is leading the pack with a spending of $ 668 billion, a $ 53 billion reduction over 2011.

Also, for the first time since the collapse of the Soviet Union, the share of the USA in global military spending has dropped below 40 per cent.

On India, SIPRI said the spending in 2012 was 2.8 per cent lesser than 2011 when seen in real terms. It was $ 48.2 billion in 2012, down from the $ 49.6 billion in 2011. Globally, the military spending for 2012 was at $1.75 trillion, a fall of 0.5 per cent in real terms since 2011.

A SIPRI statement quoting Dr Sam Perlo-Freeman, Director of SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said “However, the USA and its allies are still responsible for the great majority of world military spending. The NATO members together spent a trillion dollars.

The decline in US spending is mostly the result of reduced war spending, which fell from $ 159 billion in 2011 fiscal to $ 115 billion in 2012 fiscal, and is set to continue its downward course, with only $87 billion requested by the Department of Defence for 2013.

Overall expenditure in Asia and Oceania rose by 3.3 per cent in 2012. With tension rising in the South China sea, military spending has increased in Vietnam, Indonesia and the Philippines.