Rising Global Military Spending

GS3 – Science & Technology

Context:

At the NATO 2025 Summit, member nations pledged to increase defence spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, up from the previous 2%—raising concerns about implications for development and sustainability.

Global Impact of Rising Militarisation

1. Developmental Trade-Offs
   • Higher military budgets crowd out funding for healthcare, education, nutrition, and poverty eradication.
   • UN Budget 2025: Only $6 billion raised out of $44 billion.
   • Israel–Iran Conflict: $1 billion spent on missile interceptors in just 12 days.
2. SDG Setbacks
   • Ending poverty by 2030 requires just $70 billion/year, or 0.1% of high-income countries’ GNI.
   • 4.5 billion people still lack universal health services.
3. Environmental Impact
   • Increasing NATO’s defence spending to 3.5% GDP could emit 200 million tonnes of CO₂ annually.

India’s Defence vs Welfare Dilemma

• Military Spending Surge:
  ₹6.81 lakh crore (2025), plus ₹50,000 crore emergency funding after Operation Sindoor.
  India ranks 5th globally with $86.1 billion in military expenditure.
• Welfare Funding Constraints:
  Health spending is just 1.84% of GDP, short of the 2.5% NEP target.
  Ayushman Bharat: Covers 58 crore people, but allocated only ₹7,200 crore in 2023–24.
• Post-Conflict Risks:
  Militarised public sentiment may reduce focus on social sectors, especially in low- and middle-income countries, as seen in Ukraine (34%) and Lebanon (29%) military spending.

Way Forward

• Reprioritise Global Governance:
  Recommit to UN peacekeeping and humanitarian funding.
• Balance Defence and Development:
  Introduce Defence Sustainability Indexing and sunset clauses for emergency defence spending.
• Global Military Transparency Pact:
  Advocate for transparency and environmental reporting of military spending.
  Engage platforms like G20, BRICS, SCO for peace and demilitarisation dialogue.