India becomes world's fifth largest military spender

India's military expenditure grew around 8.5 per cent in 2016, making it the world's fifth largest spender at $55.9 billion, according to figures released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).

As per the figures, the US remains the world's largest military spendere registering a growth of 1.7 per cent between 2015 and 2016 to $611 billion.

Four others in the top 15 spenders include China, Japan, South Korea, Australia.

China is second on the list spending $215 billion, an increase of 5.4 per cent.

Military expenditure in Western Europe rose for the second consecutive year and was up by 2.6 per cent, while falling oil revenue and associated economic problems attached to the oil-price shock has forced many oil-exporting countries to reduce military spending.

Last year's global military spending accounted for 2.2 per cent of the worldwide GDP.

Military spending as a share of GDP, was highest in the Middle East with an average of 6.0 per cent, while the lowest was in the Americas, with an average of 1.3 per cent.