UNITED NATIONS: United Nations Secretary General Antonio Guterres called on Tuesday for countries to reevaluate military expenditures that are surging globally and to spend more on human development.

“The world is spending far more on waging war than in building peace. In 2024, global military spending surged to a record $2.7 trillion — the equivalent of $334 for every person on Earth,” he said.

That figure is nearly 13 times the amount of official development assistance from the richest countries, he added as he unveiled a report on global military spending.

The Stockholm Inte­rnational Peace Research Institute reports that military expenditures have jumped nine per cent in a year.

At the same time, most of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) seeking to imp­rove living conditions, including the eradication of extreme poverty and promotion of gender equality, by 2030 are not on track.

Ending world hunger by 2030 would require $93 billion per year — four per cent of 2024 military expenditure, while ensuring the full vaccination of every child globally would cost $100 billion and $285 billion annually.

Guterres said that the report’s findings were “a call to action. A call to rethink priorities.

A call to rebalance global investments toward the security the world truly needs.”

“Budgets are choices. Redirecting even a fraction of today’s military spending could close vital gaps,” he said.

Published in Dawn, September 10th, 2025