Abhishek Vij
The war between Russia and Ukraine is still ongoing. The conflict between Israel, the United States, and Iran has been going on for over two months, and it shows no signs of ending.
Peace proposals are announced, but even after negotiations, the two sides fail to reach a conclusion. The road to Hormuz remains closed. The Iranian blockade has been retaliated against by the US, and the world faces the prospect of a future economic crisis, along with energy and fertilizer shortages. This includes countries not involved in this senseless war. What is the reason? The reason is that powerful and wealthy countries have established large arms manufacturing factories, and their income can only be sustained if weapons continue to be sold. The so-called greatest powers, the United States, Russia, and China, are also engaged in the arms manufacturing business, constantly selling weapons to conflict-ridden countries. This is why the world cannot breathe a sigh of peace.
Despite high growth rates, development fails. Not just India, many countries around the world, despite being wealthy, are sinking deeper into economic hardship due to wars. A stark evidence of this is the recently published report of the Stockholm International Peace Institute.
The report states that global military spending will reach $2887 billion in 2025. This is an increase of approximately 2.9 percent compared to last year. This money is being spent on producing weapons of destruction. If only this money were spent on alleviating poverty in the world. Meanwhile, Pakistan and China are on both sides of our country. China’s latest statement is that relations with Pakistan have strengthened. Defense spending in India is also steadily increasing, further increasing after Operation Sindoor.
Currently, India has joined the world’s top five countries in terms of arms spending. This report is based on 2025. The countries projected to spend the most in 2025, in billions of dollars, are as follows: the United States (954 billion dollars), China (326 billion dollars), Russia (190 billion dollars), Germany (114 billion dollars), and India (92.1 billion dollars). Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, England, Japan, and France also appear on this list. Ukraine’s spending is $84.1 billion, while England’s is $80.2 billion. Japan’s is $67.4 billion.
Will this growing military investment not stifle development? But a war-like atmosphere prevails, with heads of state and leaders seeking to seize each other’s precious minerals and disrupt each other’s investment and supply balances. Wars these days are no longer geographical, but commercial. Deaths occur, and people suffer starvation in economic strife, but who cares about the common man? The owners of major arms companies in major countries want to sell weapons, so be it if countries are insecure. Take India for example. In 2025, India increased its military spending by 8.9 percent, taking it to $92.1 billion, becoming the world’s fifth-largest military spender.
Experts say that regional tensions are deliberately created. Sometimes military tensions with Pakistan, sometimes China’s mischief, force India to increase its military security spending to counter them. It’s natural that military spending will lead to reductions in development spending. Even a fragile country like Pakistan cannot escape this expense. It too has had to increase its military spending by 11 percent. Pakistan’s military spending has reached $11.9 billion. Its arms purchases have increased since the conflict with India. Military spending has also increased throughout Europe. If this trend continues, the global arms race will intensify, and humanity will continue to be terrified.