List of countries with highest military expenditures

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Global military expenditure in 2022

This is a list of countries with the highest military expenditure in a given year. Military expenditure figures are presented in United States dollars based on either constant or current exchange rates.[1]

Highest military expenditure, total[edit]

The first list is based on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) fact sheet, which includes a list of the world's top 40 military spenders as of 2023, based on current market exchange rates.[1]

The second list is based on the 2024 edition of The Military Balance, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) using average market exchange rates.[2]

Some sources say that Russian and Chinese military spending are actually far higher than the chart due to captive markets and Purchasing Price Parity in those countries.[3][4]

40 Countries with the highest military spending worldwide in 2023[1]
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database[5]
List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies

2024 edition of "The Military Balance" from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)[2]

Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)
% of GDP % of global spending
World total 2,443 2.3 100
01 United States United States 916.0 3.4 37
02 China China[a] 296.0 1.7 12
03 Russia Russia 109.0 5.9 4.5
04 India India 83.6 2.4 3.4
05 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia[a][b] 75.8 7.1 3.1
06 United Kingdom United Kingdom 74.9 2.3 3.1
07 Germany Germany 66.8 1.5 2.7
08 Ukraine Ukraine 64.8 37.0 2.7
09 France France[c] 61.3 2.1 2.5
100 Japan Japan 50.2 1.2 2.1
11 South Korea South Korea 47.9 2.8 2.0
12 Italy Italy 35.5 1.6 1.5
13 Australia Australia 32.3 1.9 1.3
14 Poland Poland[c] 31.6 3.8 1.3
15 Israel Israel 27.5 5.3 1.1
16 Canada Canada 27.2 1.3 1.1
17 Spain Spain 23.7 1.5 1.0
18 Brazil Brazil 22.9 1.1 0.9
19 Netherlands Netherlands 22.4 2.2 0.7
20 Algeria Algeria 18.3 8.2 0.7
21 Taiwan Taiwan 16.6 2.2 0.7
22 Turkey Turkey 15.8 1.5 0.6
23 Singapore Singapore 13.2 2.7 0.5
24 Mexico Mexico 11.8 0.7 0.5
25 Colombia Colombia 10.7 2.9 0.4
26 Iran Iran 10.3 2.1 0.4
27 Indonesia Indonesia 9.5 0.7 0.4
28 Sweden Sweden 8.8 1.5 0.4
29 Norway Norway 8.7 1.6 0.4
30 Pakistan Pakistan 8.5 2.8 0.3
31 Denmark Denmark 8.1 2.0 0.3
32 Kuwait Kuwait 7.8 4.9 0.3
33 Greece Greece 7.7 3.2 0.3
34 Belgium Belgium 7.6 1.2 0.3
35 Finland Finland 7.3 2.4 0.3
36 Switzerland Switzerland 6.3 0.7 0.3
37 Oman Oman 5.9 5.4 0.2
38 Thailand Thailand 5.8 1.2 0.2
39 Romania Romania 5.6 1.6 0.2
40 Chile Chile 5.5 1.6 0.2
Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)
01 United States United States 905.5
02 China China (PPP) ε407.9
03 Russia Russia (PPP) ε294.6
04 India India 73.6
05 United Kingdom United Kingdom ε73.5
06 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 69.1
07 Germany Germany 63.7
08 France France 60.0
09 Japan Japan 49.0
10 South Korea South Korea 43.8
11 Australia Australia 34.4
12 Italy Italy 32.7
13 Ukraine Ukraine 31.1
14 Brazil Brazil 24.2
15 Canada Canada 24.2
16 Poland Poland 23.5
17 United Arab Emirates United Arab Emirates 20.7
18 Israel Israel 19.2
19 Spain Spain 19
20 Taiwan Taiwan 18.9

Highest military expenditure, share of GDP[edit]

The following lists are lists of countries by military spending as a share of GDP - more specifically, a list of the 15 countries with the highest share in recent years - the amount a country has spent on its military as a share of its GDP.

The first list uses SIPRI as a source. The second list gets its data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

As a share of GDP[edit]

List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database
[6](2023)
List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Top 15 Defence Budgets 2020
[7]
Rank Country % of GDP
1  Ukraine 36.65%
2  Lebanon 8,91%
3  Algeria 8,17%
4  Saudi Arabia 7,09%
5  South Sudan 6,26%
6  Russia 5,86%
7  Armenia 5,45%
8  Oman 5,40%
9  Israel 5,32%
10  Jordan 4,91%
11  Kuwait 4,90%
12  Azerbaijan 4,60%
13  Togo 4,01%
14  Burkina Faso 4,01%
15  Poland 3,83%
Rank Country % of GDP
01  Oman 12.0
02  Afghanistan 10.6
03  Lebanon 10.5
04  Kuwait 7.1
05  Saudi Arabia 7.1
06  Algeria 6.7
07  Iraq 5.8
08  UAE 5.6
09  Azerbaijan 5.4
10  Morocco 5.3
11  Israel 5.2
12  Jordan 4.9
13  Armenia 4.8
14  Mali 4.5
15  Qatar 4.4
* Bold values with an asterisk above are highly uncertain SIPRI estimates.

Italic values are SIPRI estimates.

Notes[edit]

  1. ^ a b SIPRI estimate
  2. ^ The figures for Saudi Arabia include expenditure for public order and safety and might be slightly overestimated.[citation needed]
  3. ^ a b The figures for France and Poland exclude expenditure for Gendarmerie nationale and Żandarmeria Wojskowa.

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b c "Trends in Military Expenditure 2023" (PDF). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. April 2024. Retrieved 22 April 2024.
  2. ^ a b "International Comparisons of Defence Expenditure and Military Personnel". The Military Balance. 124 (1): 542–547. 31 December 2024. doi:10.1080/04597222.2024.2298600. ISSN 0459-7222.
  3. ^ "Why Russian Military Expenditure Is Much Higher Than Commonly Understood (As Is China's)". War on the Rocks. 16 December 2019. Archived from the original on 12 December 2021. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  4. ^ "Russian defense spending is much larger, and more sustainable than it seems". Defensenews. 3 May 2019. Archived from the original on 11 March 2022. Retrieved 12 December 2021.
  5. ^ "Data for all countries from 1988–2020 in constant (2019) USD (pdf)" (PDF). SIPRI. Archived (PDF) from the original on 28 April 2021. Retrieved 28 April 2021.
  6. ^ "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database". Sipri.org. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  7. ^ "IISS Military Balance 2021". The Military Balance. 121 (1). International Institute for Strategic Studies: 23–29. January 2021. doi:10.1080/04597222.2021.1868791. S2CID 232050862. Archived from the original on 7 October 2021. Retrieved 25 February 2021.

External links[edit]