In 2011, global military expenditures reached approximately 1.74 trillion USD. SIPRI notes, “The small rise of just 0.3 per cent in 2011 marks the end of a run of continuous increases in military spending between 1998 and 2010, including an annual average increase of 4.5 per cent between 2001 and 2009.” Read the entire Reaching Critical Will fact sheet on military spending here.