"A new analysis on Monday showing that the world’s military spending surpassed $1.9 trillion last year, once again led by the United States under President Donald Trump, provoked demands that governments across the globe prioritize peace and the health of people as the coronavirus pandemic continues to ravage the planet. The latest annual report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) found that the top military spenders after the U.S. were China, India, Russia, and Saudi Arabia. Total spending in 2019 was 3.6 percent higher than in the previous year and accounted for 2.2 percent of global gross domestic product (GDP). “Global military expenditure was 7.2 percent higher in 2019 than it was in 2010, showing a trend that military spending growth has accelerated in recent years,” SIPRI researcher Nan Tian said in a statement. “This is the highest level of spending since the 2008 global financial crisis and probably represents a peak in expenditure.” Although, as the SIPRI statement pointed out, “the increase in U.S. spending in 2019 alone was equivalent to the entirety of Germany’s military expenditure for that year,” the European country’s spending still rose by 10% last year to $49.3 billion, which was the largest increase among the top 15 ranked countries."