Azerbaijan increased its military budget 471 percent from 2000 to 2009, says the annual report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on worldwide military expenditures, Christian Science Monitor reports.

The source points out the military budget increase especially among small oil-rich countries “flooded with new wealth.”

“Azerbaijan has used oil revenues to beef up forces along its border with Armenia, which has traditionally had a stronger army and enjoys strategic terrain advantages,” the article reads.

“Azerbaijan has been playing catch-up with Armenia,” Christian Science Monitors quotes one of the report’s authors Sam Perlo-Freeman.

On the whole, the report mentions that despite global crisis, worldwide military spending increased by 5.9 % in 2009.