After a decade-long decline following the end of the Cold War, military spending rose for the fourth consecutive year in 2002, this time sharply, the institute said in its annual report.

According to its estimates, spending rose by six percent in real terms to 794 billion dollars (667 billion euros), accounting for 2.5 percent of world gross domestic product (GDP) and 128 dollars per capita.

Last year, the world spent 14 percent more on military weaponry than in the post-Cold War low of 1998, but 16 percent less than the 1988 Cold War peak.

The United States accounted for almost three-quarters of the increase in 2002, with a 10 percent increase in its military spending in the wake of the September 2001 attacks.

SIPRI noted that further substantial increases were planned up until 2009, not counting the war in Iraq which was not included in the budgets for 2003 and 2004.

"The acceleration in world military expenditure in 2002 is due almost exclusively to the huge increase in US military expenditure under the Bush administration," the institute said.

The rest of the world "is not prepared, or cannot afford, to follow the US example in increasing military expenditure at the current level or for the same purposes," it added.

With currencies converted at market exchange rates, the US alone now accounts for 43 percent of world military spending.

The five top spenders -- the US, Japan, Britain, France and China, in that order -- together account for 62 percent of world military spending.

However, when purchasing power parity rates are used to compare spending -- reflecting the actual volume of goods and services that can be purchased in each country with its currency -- the US remains the top spender but China, India and Russia become numbers two, three and four respectively.

As in previous years, the United States, Eastern and Central Europe, Russia and Asia are those who registered the biggest increases in military spending last year.

Spending remained meanwhile stable in Western Europe -- large increases are expected in Britain and France in 2003 -- while a decrease was noted in the Balkans as the region gradually returns to normality.

In Africa and the Middle East, most countries made only modest increases, with the notable exception of Israel.

While the war on terrorism was a major factor in the increase in US military expenditure, that was not the case in most other countries, SIPRI said, suggesting that "major weapons might not be the most effective means for fighting terrorism."

WAR.WIRE