Stockholm, June 18: World military spending rose by six per cent last year, growing twice as fast as in 2001 to reach $794 billion, largely as a result of the US-led war on terrorism, a respected think-tank said on Tuesday. Washington accounted for three quarters of the increase, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in its Yearbook, a defence and security policy publication widely recognised for the reliability of its data.

Russia overtook the United States as the world largest arms exporter while China was the largest importer followed by India, locked in an arms race with impoverished nuclear rival Pakistan.
But with outlays up 10 per cent year-on-year at $336 billion, the United States accounted for 43 per cent of global military expenditure in 2002, up from 36 per cent in 2001.

"The rest of the world is not prepared, or cannot, follow the USA's example in increasing military expenditure," SIPRI said, noting that combined arms expenditure of the West European members of the NATO defence alliance fell by three percent in real terms between 2000 and 2002.
"While in the USA the war on terrorism was a major factor in the huge growth in military expenditure in 2002, this was not the case in Europe." Bureau Report