Turkey’s military spending decreases by 5.7 percent in 2016

ISTANBUL

REUTERS photo

Turkey’s military spending decreased by 5.7 percent in 2016 compared to the previous year, according to a new Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report on military expenditures. 

The report said Turkey’s military expenditures were worth $14.9 billion, which ranked the country 17th in the list, behind Spain and Canada. 

Total world military expenditure rose to $1,686 billion in 2016, an increase of 0.4 percent in real terms from 2015. 

Military spending in North America saw its first annual increase since 2010, while spending in Western Europe grew for the second consecutive year. 

There were spending increases in all but three countries in Western Europe. Italy recorded the most notable increase, with spending rising by 11 percent between 2015 and 2016.

Spending continued to grow in Asia and Oceania, Central and Eastern Europe and North Africa. By contrast, spending fell in Central America and the Caribbean, the Middle East (based on countries for which data is available), South America and sub-Saharan Africa.

The United States remains the country with the highest annual military expenditure in the world. U.S. military spending grew by 1.7 percent between 2015 and 2016 to $611 billion. Military expenditure by China, which was the second largest spender in 2016, increased by 5.4 percent to $215 billion, a much lower rate of growth than in previous years. 

Russia increased its spending by 5.9 percent in 2016 to $69.2 billion, making it the third largest spender.

Saudi Arabia was the third largest spender in 2015 but dropped to fourth position in 2016.

The countries with the largest relative increases in military spending between 2015 and 2016 are in Central Europe. Overall spending in Central Europe grew by 2.4 percent in 2016.