New Delhi (AsiaNews / Agencies) - This year, Asia is the
most important market in the global arms trade: among the top 15 countries for
military spending, 8 are part of the continent. This was revealed by the Stockholm
International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI ), which yesterday released data
relating to 2013. China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan and India are among the
top 10 nations on their list.
Overall, the world's military spending amounted to 1.73 trillion dollars, a
decrease of 1.9% compared to 2012 , but only because of a drop in spending by
the United States and other Western countries.
Topping the list is Washington, at a cost of 640 billion dollars. The US is
followed by China (188 billion), Russia (87.8 billion dollars), Saudi Arabia (67
billion). The Asian dominance is interrupted by France ( 61.2 billion dollars),
the UK (57.9 billion dollars) and Germany (48.8 billion dollars). The comes
Japan (48.6 billion dollars) and India (47.4 billion dollars).
The remaining six include South Korea (10th place, 33.9 billion dollars),
Turkey (14th, 19.1 billion) and the United Arab Emirates (15th, 19 billion).