Turkey’s military expenditure climbed by 86 percent over the last decade to hit $20.4 billion in 2019, according to an international survey, the pro-government Daily Sabah reported.
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) report, pointing to the steep 27 percent increase in Turkish military spending in 2018 from a year earlier, said the annual rise was 5.8 percent in 2019.
Total spending by all 29 NATO members, including Turkey, was $1 trillion last year, the report, released Monday, noted.
Meanwhile, worldwide military expenditure rose 3.6 percent year-on-year in 2019, the largest annual rise in a decade.
The international survey said global military spending reached $1.9 trillion last year.