New Delhi: Military expenditure in Africa estimated at US$41.2 billion, accounting for 2.1 per cent of the global total in 2019 saw a marginal growth in spending and was the first increase in African military expenditure for five years.

Despite the annual decreases in 2015–18, increases in other years meant that total African military spending grew by 17 per cent over the decade 2010–19, says the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) yearbook 2019.

Military spending by countries in North Africa is estimated to have totalled US$23.5 billion in 2019, representing 57 per cent of the total for Africa. Amid long-standing tensions between Algeria and Morocco, domestic insurgencies and continuing civil war in Libya, military spending in the sub region was 4.6 per cent higher than in 2018 and 67 per cent higher than in 2010.

Algeria’s military expenditure of US$10.3 billion in 2019 was the highest in North Africa (and Africa as a whole) and accounted for 44 per cent of the sub regional total. Algeria’s military spending has risen almost continuously since 2000, and particularly in the period 2004–16, when expenditure grew for 13 consecutive years and reached an all-time high in 2016. At 6.0 per cent of its GDP, Algeria’s military burden was the highest in Africa in 2019.

Military spending in sub-Saharan Africa fell by 2.2 per cent in 2019 to reach US$17.7 billion, which was 15 per cent lower than in 2010. At US$3.5 billion, South Africa’s military spending was the highest in sub-Saharan Africa in 2019. Its spending fell by 1.5 per cent in 2019—the fourth consecutive year of decrease. Nigeria was the second-largest spender in the sub region in 2019: it allocated US$1.9 billion to its military, down by 8.2 per cent compared with 2018.

In recent years, the spending on the military by sub-Saharan African states has been volatile. Of the 19 countries that increased military spending in 2019, eight decreased spending in 2018. Similarly, 13 of the 23 countries that lowered spending in 2019 had raised spending in 2018. This means that, overall the trend in changes by 21 of the 42 countries in the sub region for which relevant data is available reversed in 2019.

Armed conflict is a major driver for the volatile nature of military spending in sub-Saharan Africa. For example, in the Sahel and Lake Chad region, where there are several ongoing armed conflicts, military spending increased in 2019 in Burkina Faso (22 per cent), Cameroon (1.4 per cent) and Mali (3.6 per cent) but fell in Chad (–5.1 per cent), Niger (–20 per cent) and Nigeria (–8.2 per cent).

Among the Central African countries that were involved in armed conflict, military spending rose in 2019 in the Central African Republic (8.7 per cent), the Democratic Republic of the Congo (16 per cent) and Uganda (52 per cent) but fell in Burundi (–4.5 per cent). In the Horn of Africa, military spending decreased in 2019 in Ethiopia (–1.6 per cent) and Kenya (–1.7 per cent); however, their spending in 2019 remained well above that in 2010, of which Ethiopia’s was 12 per cent higher while Kenya’s 25 per cent higher.