World leaders spent more than $2 trillion on arms last year, almost 37 times more money than the estimated global spending on Covid-19 vaccines.
The global military spending reached $2.113 trillion in 2021, about 0.7 per cent higher than in 2020, and 12 per cent higher than in 2012, according to a report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released on Monday, April 25.
On the other hand, the total global spending on Covid-19 vaccines was estimated to have been $54 billion in 2021.
“The economic effects of the Covid-19 pandemic have not ended the continuous upward trend in world military expenditure seen since 2015,” the SIPRI said in the latest fact sheet.
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Global military spending saw a phase of decline between 2011 and 2014, but since then, it has only increased.
The United States, China, India, the United Kingdom,…
