LONDON, January 9. /TASS/. Global defense expenditures soared past $1.8 trillion in 2019, Jane’s defense consultancy reported on Thursday.

“Global defense spending surpasses $1.8 trillion in 2019 supported by robust growth in European markets,” the publishing company says.

According to the annual report on changes in defense spending in 2019 released by Jane’s, the increase in world’s defense expenses slowed to 1% from 6% in 2018.

Although growth slowed in most regions, “Europe experienced exceptional growth of 5.2%, outperforming most emerging markets. Six of the ten fastest growing defense budgets in the world in 2019 were situated in Europe – including Bulgaria, which reported the fastest growth globally, with defense spending growing by 125% as the country made payment for eight F-16 Block-70 fighter jets in August,” Jane’s reports.

“While growth in global defense spending slowed dramatically this year, Jane’s projects that global spending growth will moderate to between 1.5-2.0% a year over the next ten years,” said Fenella McGerty, a defense and security analyst at Jane’s. She noted that the upsurge would depend on maintaining a solid focus on defense in Europe but also on a return to more robust growth rates in emerging markets.

According to the publication, Russia’s defense budget totaled $48 bln [at the dollar exchange rate in 2019] last year, up $1 bln in annual terms. Russia ranked eighth among the top ten countries in terms of defense spending in 2018 and 2019.

The United States leads the list of the top ten countries with the largest defense budgets ($726 bln), followed by China ($217 bln), Saudi Arabia ($57 bln), India ($57 bln), the United Kingdom ($56 bln), France ($53 bln), Germany ($48 bln), Russia ($48 bln), Japan ($45 bln), and South Korea ($41 bln).