STOCKHOLM, April 27 (Xinhua) -- The United States drives global growth in military spending, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said in a report on Monday.

Military spending by the United States grew by 5.3 percent to a total of 732 billion U.S. dollars in 2019 and accounted for 38 percent of global military spending. The increase in U.S. spending in 2019 alone was equivalent to the entirety of Germany's military expenditure for that year, the report said.

"The recent growth in U.S. military spending is largely based on a perceived return to competition between the great powers," said Pieter D. Wezeman, Senior Researcher at SIPRI.

Total global military expenditure rose to over 1.9 trillion dollars in 2019, according to the data from SIPRI. The total for 2019 represents an increase of 3.6 percent from 2018, the largest annual growth in spending since 2010.

SIPRI's research covers international conflicts, armaments, arms control and disarmament.