Global military spending last year reached its highest level in three decades, mainly driven by the United States and China, a Swedish-based research institute says.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimated global military expenditure totalled $US1.8 trillion in 2018, up 2.6 per cent from 2017.
The sum translated into $US239 per person, according to SIPRI.
The US remained the world's largest spender with $US649 billion, a rise from the year before by over four per cent.
"The increase in US spending was driven by the implementation from 2017 of new arms procurement programs under the Trump administration," Aude Fleurant, director of SIPRI's arms and military expenditure program, said.
The US accounted for 36 per cent of global expenditures in 2018 and spent almost as much as the combined outlays of the next eight top spenders, SIPRI said. Yet, US spending was almost one fifth lower than its 2010 high.
Second-placed China's spending was estimated at $US250 billion, equalling 14 per cent of the world's expenditure.
The spending was up five per cent in 2018, representing China's lowest annual increase since 1995 and reflecting slower economic growth.
Saudi Arabia remained in third place on $US67.6 billion, in spite of spending cuts of over six per cent compared to 2017, followed by India and France.
India's spending rose for the fifth consecutive year, mainly driven by tensions with China and Pakistan, according to the think tank.
The top five spenders accounted for 60 per cent of global military spending.
Russia slipped to sixth place, spending an estimated $US61.4 billion. This was the first time Russia was not among the top five spenders since 2006.
An overall trend according to SIPRI was that military spending as a share of GDP has fallen in all regions since 1999.
It said that six of the 10 countries where military spending was estimated to account for the highest portion of GDP - also labelled as the military burden - were in the Middle East, SIPRI said.
