for the first time since 2007, Israel is not recognized as the most militarized country in the world. This year, this rating was headed by Ukraine. This is evidenced by the global militarization index (GMI) 2023, published by the Bonn International Center for Conflict Research (BICC), reports UNN.
Details
in the global militarization index , the military apparatus and civil society of states are linked to each other. Analysts weigh a country's military spending, military numbers, and weapons against its gross domestic product (GDP) and other civilian indicators.
GMI is usually based on the latest available data - for the current survey, this is mainly for 2022, so the war in Gaza is not yet reflected in it.
so far, Israel has been the leader in this ranking since 2007. However, this year the first place was taken by Ukraine. But Russia took the 10th place in the rating - Moscow significantly increased its military spending from 6 66 billion to just under.72 billion.
however, massive losses of people and materials have led to a low degree of militarization.
additions
overall, this year's top 10 militarized countries look like this
it is noted that the number of weapons in the world has increased. However, on average, the degree of militarization decreased because the population or GDP of many countries increased.
Read also: EU defense spending increased by 6%, but the bloc still lacks critical capabilities - Borrel.
at the same time, researchers note that military spending in Western and Central Europe increased by 13 percent in 2022. This is the largest increase since the end of the Cold War.
recall
the Verkhovna Rada adopted as a whole the state budget for 2024 in which the main item of expenditure is defense. According to the document, 22.1% or UAH 1.69 trillion will be allocated to provide security and Defense Forces