Military Spending
The world spent a record $2,887 billion on the military in 2025, according to SIPRI — the 11th consecutive annual increase and 2.5% of global GDP. Spending is highly concentrated: the United States alone accounts for a third of the total, and the five biggest spenders for 58%. Growth is now being driven by Europe and Asia, even as US spending fell in 2025.
Key Military Spending Insights
The US Still Spends a Third of the World Total
US military expenditure was $954 billion in 2025 — 33% of the global total and 2.8 times China's estimated $336 billion. But US spending fell 7.5% in real terms, mainly because supplemental funding for military aid to Ukraine and Israel was not renewed. Excluding the US, world military spending grew by 9.2% in 2025.
Europe's Spending Has Doubled in a Decade
European military expenditure rose 14% to $864 billion in 2025, the highest level SIPRI has ever recorded for the region, and 102% higher in real terms than in 2016. Germany (+24%) became the world's fourth-largest spender at $114 billion, while Spain (+50%), Poland (+23%) and Italy (+20%) posted some of the biggest increases among top spenders.
War Economies Carry the Heaviest Burden
Ukraine devoted an estimated 40% of its GDP — and 63% of government spending — to the military in 2025, by far the highest in the world. Russia spent an estimated $190 billion, or 7.5% of GDP, with military spending reaching 20% of government spending. Algeria (8.8%) and Israel (7.8%) also had among the highest military burdens.
Asia Builds Up Steadily
Spending in Asia and Oceania rose 8.1% to $681 billion in 2025, the region's biggest annual rise since 2009. China's budget has grown for 31 consecutive years and is up 62% since 2016. Japan (+9.7%, 1.4% of GDP — its highest burden since 1958) and Taiwan (+14%) are accelerating too.
World Military Expenditure, 1988–2025
US$ billion at constant 2024 prices and exchange rates (no world total can be calculated for 1991)
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| World military expenditure (constant 2024 US$ bn) | |
|---|---|
| 1988 | 1760 |
| 1989 | 1739 |
| 1990 | 1674 |
| 1991 | – |
| 1992 | 1415 |
| 1993 | 1356 |
| 1994 | 1324 |
| 1995 | 1252 |
| 1996 | 1218 |
| 1997 | 1223 |
| 1998 | 1208 |
| 1999 | 1228 |
| 2000 | 1271 |
| 2001 | 1297 |
| 2002 | 1383 |
| 2003 | 1490 |
| 2004 | 1572 |
| 2005 | 1641 |
| 2006 | 1685 |
| 2007 | 1752 |
| 2008 | 1852 |
| 2009 | 1980 |
| 2010 | 2016 |
| 2011 | 2016 |
| 2012 | 1996 |
| 2013 | 1948 |
| 2014 | 1936 |
| 2015 | 1961 |
| 2016 | 1962 |
| 2017 | 1983 |
| 2018 | 2045 |
| 2019 | 2132 |
| 2020 | 2210 |
| 2021 | 2228 |
| 2022 | 2299 |
| 2023 | 2453 |
| 2024 | 2692 |
| 2025 | 2771 |
Key Finding: After falling sharply at the end of the Cold War to about $1.2 trillion in the late 1990s, real military spending has more than doubled. It rose 41% over 2016–2025 alone, with the steepest jump in 2024 (+9.7%) following the Russia–Ukraine war and conflict in the Middle East.
The 15 Largest Military Spenders (2025)
Military expenditure in US$ billion, current prices and exchange rates. * = SIPRI estimate
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| Military expenditure 2025 (US$ bn) | |
|---|---|
| United States | 954 |
| China* | 336 |
| Russia* | 190 |
| Germany | 114 |
| India | 92.1 |
| United Kingdom | 89 |
| Ukraine* | 84.1 |
| Saudi Arabia* | 83.2 |
| France | 68 |
| Japan | 62.2 |
| Israel | 48.3 |
| Italy | 48.1 |
| South Korea | 47.8 |
| Poland | 46.8 |
| Spain | 40.2 |
Key Finding: The top 15 countries spent $2,304 billion — 80% of the world total. The US ($954bn) spent more than the next six countries combined, while Ukraine rose to 7th place at an estimated $84.1 billion.
Change in Military Spending, 2024–2025, Top 15 Spenders
Real-terms change (%), based on constant 2024 US dollars
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| Real change 2024–25 (%) | |
|---|---|
| Spain | 50 |
| Germany | 24 |
| Poland | 23 |
| Ukraine | 20 |
| Italy | 20 |
| Japan | 9.7 |
| India | 8.9 |
| China | 7.4 |
| Russia | 5.9 |
| South Korea | 2.6 |
| France | 1.5 |
| Saudi Arabia | 1.4 |
| United Kingdom | -2 |
| Israel | -4.9 |
| United States | -7.5 |
Key Finding: Twelve of the top 15 spenders increased their budgets in 2025. Only the United States (−7.5%), Israel (−4.9%) and the United Kingdom (−2.0%) cut spending, while European countries posted the largest increases.
Military Spending as a Share of GDP, 2016 vs 2025
Military burden (% of GDP) for major spenders. Ukraine (3.7% in 2016, 40% in 2025) is omitted for scale. * = SIPRI estimate
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| 2016 | 2025 | |
|---|---|---|
| Israel | 5.2 | 7.8 |
| Russia* | 5.4 | 7.5 |
| Saudi Arabia* | 9.2 | 6.5 |
| Poland | 1.9 | 4.5 |
| United States | 3.4 | 3.1 |
| South Korea | 2.3 | 2.6 |
| United Kingdom | 2 | 2.4 |
| Germany | 1.1 | 2.3 |
| India | 2.5 | 2.3 |
| France | 1.9 | 2 |
| China* | 1.7 | 1.7 |
| Japan | 0.9 | 1.4 |
Key Finding: Poland's burden more than doubled to 4.5% of GDP — the highest in NATO — and Germany passed 2% for the first time since 1990. The US share of GDP edged down to 3.1%, while China has held steady at about 1.7%.
Share of World Military Spending by Region (2025)
Percent of the $2,887 billion global total, current US dollars
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| Share of world military spending 2025 (%) | |
|---|---|
| Americas ($1,065bn) | 37 |
| Europe ($864bn) | 30 |
| Asia & Oceania ($681bn) | 24 |
| Middle East (~$218bn) | 7.6 |
| Africa ($58.2bn) | 2 |
Key Finding: The Americas still account for 37% of world military spending, but their share fell 5.5 percentage points over 2016–2025 while Europe's rose by 11 points to 30%.
Military Spending by Region, 2016–2025
US$ billion at constant 2024 prices and exchange rates
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| Americas | Europe | Asia & Oceania | Middle East | Africa | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 920 | 392 | 458 | 154 | 37.6 |
| 2017 | 917 | 385 | 479 | 166 | 36.2 |
| 2018 | 944 | 395 | 498 | 173 | 35.6 |
| 2019 | 992 | 415 | 523 | 165 | 36.9 |
| 2020 | 1039 | 437 | 538 | 156 | 38.7 |
| 2021 | 1027 | 452 | 554 | 157 | 38.8 |
| 2022 | 1015 | 515 | 565 | 166 | 38.2 |
| 2023 | 1040 | 592 | 593 | 182 | 47.6 |
| 2024 | 1113 | 694 | 627 | 209 | 50.3 |
| 2025 | 1039 | 792 | 678 | 209 | 54.6 |
Key Finding: Europe's real spending roughly doubled from about $392 billion in 2016 to $792 billion in 2025 (2024 prices), closing much of the gap with the Americas, whose spending fell in 2025.
Understanding Military Spending Data
Where the data comes from
All figures on this page come from the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, maintained by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute and updated on 27 April 2026 with data up to 2025. SIPRI compiles open-source data — government budgets, defence white papers, responses to UN and NATO reporting, and each new release replaces all previously published figures.
What counts as military expenditure
SIPRI includes spending on the armed forces (including peacekeeping), defence ministries, paramilitary forces judged to be trained for military operations and military space activities. That covers personnel (including military pensions), operations and maintenance, procurement, military R&D and military aid, which is counted in the donor's spending. Civil defence, veterans' benefits and demobilisation are excluded.
Current vs constant dollars
Single-year comparisons (such as the top spenders chart) use current US dollars at 2025 exchange rates. Trends over time use constant 2024 US dollars, which strip out inflation, and growth rates are always in real terms. That is why the 2025 world total is $2,887 billion in current dollars but $2,771 billion at 2024 prices. Military burden is spending as a share of GDP, with GDP taken from the IMF.
Caveats
Figures for China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine and the Middle East total are SIPRI estimates because official data is incomplete or opaque — Russia, for instance, classifies around 79% of its National Defence budget. North Korea, the UAE, Syria, Venezuela and a few others are excluded from regional totals. SIPRI and NATO figures can differ because NATO uses a broader definition; NATO's new target of 5% of GDP by 2035 includes 1.5% for wider “defence- and security-related” spending.