New York: United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres has sounded the alarm over surging global military expenditure, warning that rising defense budgets are undermining international cooperation at a time of mountingcrises.
Speaking in London at an event marking the 80th anniversary of the UN General Assembly, Guterres described 2025 as “profoundly challenging” for multilateralism. He cited widening inequalities, climate chaos, and intensifying crackdowns on civil society as evidence that the world is drifting away from shared values of peace and justice.
Aid was slashed. Inequalities widened. Climate chaos accelerated. International law was trampled. Crackdowns on civil society intensified. Journalists were killed with impunity. UN staff were repeatedly threatened—or killed,” he said.
According to UN figures, global military spending reached $2.7 trillion in 2025—a sum more than 200 times the UK’s current aid budget and equivalent to over 70 percent of Britain’s economy.
The staggering figure underscores what Guterres called a dangerous imbalance between resources devoted to war and those allocated to humanitarian and development needs.
The Secretary‑General linked the rise in military budgets to broader geopolitical tensions, pointing to conflicts in Gaza, Ukraine, and Sudan, as well as the rapid spread of artificial intelligence and the pandemic‑driven surge in nationalism.
He warned that nationalism has stalled progress on sustainable development and climate action, eroding the foundations of global solidarity.
Guterres also highlighted other destabilizing trends: fossil fuel profits climbing even as the planet hit record heat levels, and algorithms in cyberspace “rewarding falsehoods, fueling hatred, and providing authoritarians with powerful tools of control.”
Calling for urgent reform, he urged nations to build a “robust, responsive and well‑resourced multilateral system” capable of addressing interconnected global challenges. He pressed for Security Council reform, fairer financial systems, and renewed commitment to sustainable development.
Reflecting on the UN’s founding in 1946 at Methodist Central Hall, Guterres invoked the courage of early staff who bore “visible wounds of war” yet dedicated themselves to building a safer world. He rejected the notion that peace is naïve, insisting instead that “peace, justice, and equality are the most courageous, practical, and necessary pursuits of all.”The UN chief praised the United Kingdom as a “strong pillar of multilateralism” and urged nations to embrace innovative solutions to modern crises. “As global centres of power shift, we have the opportunity to build a future that is either more fair—or more unstable,” he said, stressing the stakes of inaction.