Military Expenditures of the Most Influential Countries in the World During the Military Actions in Ukraine

Instability in the world makes it necessary to strengthen the military security of countries by modernizing armies, increasing armaments, using innovative technologies, which requires an increase in military expenditures. Such measures necessitate the restructuring of the economy, reformatting of business in various branches of economic activity. And this question becomes relevant not only in those countries that are involved in the war, but also in neighboring countries and countries that have an influence on the world economy and politics.

The purpose of the article is to study the trends in the volume of military expenditures for the period 2014-2022 in a number of countries that have the greatest influence on the world economy and politics.

Currently, the United States, China, and Russia have the largest share of global arms expenditures. These countries are among the top five largest exporters of major types of weapons for 2018-2022. The top ten largest exporters of major types of weapons over the past five years include the highly developed countries of Europe - members of the "Big Seven": Germany; France; United Kingdom; Italy.

US military spending fluctuated somewhat and was the lowest in 2017, but it began to grow already in 2018. China has been increasing its defense budget every year in a row, and the constant increase has been going on since 1995. In Russia, these expenses decreased the most in 2017, slightly in 2018 and had the smallest volume this year. However, already in 2019, Russia's defense budget increased by 4.5%, and in 2022 by another 9.2%. A decrease in defense funding in Great Britain was observed in 2015-2016, and in subsequent years there is a tendency to increase it. Germany is characterized by a constantly growing trend with a slight decrease only in 2021. In France, an insignificant decrease in military expenditures was observed in 2018. Italy had the most uneven nature of defense financingif in 2019 a drop in expenditures by 2.7% was observed, then in In 2020, the increase was 22.8%.

The study of the defense expenditures of these countries for the period 2014–2022 confirms that their volumes were determined both by the war in Ukraine and by the political situation in each country in particular.