Armenia remains world’s third most militarized country for 6th year

Armenia is still the world’s third most militarized country behind only Israel and Singapore, a new report reveals. The country is also the most heavily militarised country in Europe, says the survey.

Compiled by BICC, the 2019 edition of the Global Militarization Index (GMI) presents the relative weight and importance of a country’s military apparatus in relation to its society as a whole. The GMI 2019 covers 154 states and is based on the latest available figures (in most cases data for 2018).

Armenia’s standing in the report hasn’t changed since 2014.

The unresolved conflict between Armenia and Azerbaijan (position 10) over the Nagorno Karabakh region continues to keep militarization in the South Caucasus at a very high level, the report says.

“In the South Caucasus, militarisation continues at a very high level. In 2019, too, the agreed ceasefire was repeatedly breached. As a result of the tense security situation, both countries continued to invest a lot of resources in their armed forces. Both Baku and Yerevan are currently modernising the old army and air force weapons systems, for which they have awarded various large-scale contracts to Russian weapons manufacturers. The result is rising military spending on both sides,” the GMI says.

Russia, meanwhile, is placed the 6th, the United States – 31st, Georgia – 49th, Turkey – 20th.