Armenia is the most militarized country in Europe for a fourth consecutive year, also topping the worldwide list with Israel and Singapore, a new report showed.

The Global Militarization Index presents on an annual basis the relative weight and importance of a country's military apparatus in relation to its society as a whole. It compares, for example, military expenditures with a country's gross domestic product (GDP) and its health expenditure (as share of its GDP). The GMI 2016 covers 152 states and is based on the latest available figures (in most cases data for 2015). The index project is financially supported by Germany's Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

Despite the fact that no other country spends as much money on its military as the United States does (2015: US $595 billion), it is only on position 31 of the GMI.

"In the context with the GDP or the overall population, the high military expenditures and the large number of military personnel in the United States are put in perspective as regards the ranking," the author Dr Max M. Mutschler said. This explains conversely, why for years small countries such as Armenia, Singapore or Cyprus are to be found in the world's top 10 in the GMI.

Russia, Cyprus, Greece and Azerbaijan are also among the top 10 worldwide in the report.