India spent just $64 billion on defense in 2020 amid standoff with the Chinese in Ladakh as per International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) review. The United States spent $738 billion on defense and spent China $193.5 billion. India is in the third spot, followed by Great Britain (61.5) Russia (60.6 billion). The defense spending in 2020 rose 3.9% to $1.83 trillion.
Among the factors affecting defense budgets are the wars in Libya, Syria, and Yemen. Turkey provided military support to the recognized government in Libya, while opposition forces were supported by Egypt, Russia, and the UAE. In the Syrian province of Idlib, the Turkish army first clashed with government troops in February, and in late 2020 began a joint patrol with Russia. In Yemen, the Hussites were supported by Iran, which provided them, in particular, with cruise missiles.
The review mentions the war in Ukraine, as well as in Africa, in particular in the Sahel, Ethiopia, and Nagorno-Karabakh, where “the old conflict flared up again when Azerbaijan regained part of its territory.”
The military balance in the world has been significantly affected by the pandemic, according to the authors of the review. In particular, the governments of France and Germany have increased spending to support local defense suppliers. Most countries that have announced their budgets for 2021 have retained defense appropriations.
The sharpened perception of the threat in Europe, the survey said, “contributed to increased defense spending in Europe after Russia’s seizure of Crimea in 2014 and its involvement in the conflict in eastern Ukraine.” European members of NATO have increased defense budgets to 1.64% of GDP (in 2014 this figure was 1.25%). At the same time, NATO’s requirement to spend 2% of GDP on defense has been met by only nine European members.