Saudi Arabia: Riyadh third in global military spending


Issue 1075 - 23 Feb 2019 | 1 minute read

Saudi Arabia has retained its position as the third largest defence spender in the world, according to the latest Military Balance report issued by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) in mid-February. Saudi Arabia’s defence spending amounted to $83bn in 2018, according to IISS estimates. That put it behind the United States ($643bn) and China ($168bn), but ahead of Russia ($63bn), India ($58bn) and the UK ($56bn). The only other Gulf country to be included among the 15 largest defence spenders is Iraq, which had an estimated military budget of almost $20bn last year.

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