MOSCOW, August 28. /TASS/. Poland’s defense spending nearly quadrupled and the size of the national armed forces almost doubled over the past eight years, while the ruling Law and Justice (PiS) party, led by party chief and current Deputy Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski, has been in power, a senior state official said on Monday.

"Military spending: 37.5 bln zlotys [some $9.3 bln] in 2015, and 137.18 bln zlotys [about $34 bln] in 2023," Michal Dworczyk, a member of the Polish Council of Ministers, stated on his page on the X social network (formerly Twitter).

"Number of Polish troops: 95,000 in 2015 and 175,000 in 2023," Dworczyk added.

The PiS-led government under current Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki has prioritized the expansion and development of Poland’s national armed forces as a key objective for the country.

In recent years, the Eastern European country has been actively engaged in concluding multi-million dollar contracts with US and South Korean defense contractors to acquire modern weapons systems, including tanks, fighter jets, helicopters, armored personnel carriers and infantry fighting vehicles.