List of countries with highest military expenditures


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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]

Global military expenditure in 2022

Highest military expenditure, total

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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]

The third list is a user-generated list of the highest military budgets of the current year, compiled from various sources

Some western analysts such as Michael Kofman 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 916.0 3.4 37
02   China[a] 296.0 1.7 12
03   Russia 130.0 6.3 4.5
04   India 83.6 2.4 3.4
05   Saudi Arabia[a][b] 75.8 7.1 3.1
06   United Kingdom 74.9 2.3 3.1
07   Germany 66.8 1.5 2.7
08   Ukraine 64.8 37.0 2.7
09   France[c] 61.3 2.1 2.5
10   Japan 50.2 1.2 2.1
11   South Korea 47.9 2.8 2.0
12   Italy 35.5 1.6 1.5
13   Australia 32.3 1.9 1.3
14   Poland[c] 31.6 3.8 1.3
15   Israel 27.5 5.3 1.1
16   Canada 27.2 1.3 1.1
17   Spain 23.7 1.5 1.0
18   Brazil 22.9 1.1 0.9
19   Algeria 18.3 8.2 0.7
20   Netherlands 16.6 1.5 0.7
21   Taiwan 16.6 2.2 0.7
22   Turkey 15.8 1.5 0.6
23   Singapore 13.2 2.7 0.5
24   Mexico 11.8 0.7 0.5
25   Colombia 10.7 2.9 0.4
26   Iran 10.3 2.1 0.4
27   Indonesia 9.5 0.7 0.4
28   Sweden 8.8 1.5 0.4
29   Norway 8.7 1.6 0.4
30   Pakistan 8.5 2.8 0.3
31   Denmark 8.1 2.0 0.3
32   Kuwait 7.8 4.9 0.3
33   Greece 7.7 3.2 0.3
34   Belgium 7.6 1.2 0.3
35   Finland 7.3 2.4 0.3
36   Switzerland 6.3 0.7 0.3
37   Oman 5.9 5.4 0.2
38   Thailand 5.8 1.2 0.2
39   Romania 5.6 1.6 0.2
40   Chile 5.5 1.6 0.2
Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)
01   United States 905.5
02   China (PPP) ε407.9
03   Russia (PPP) ε294.6
04   India 73.6
05   United Kingdom ε73.5
06   Saudi Arabia 69.1
07   Germany 63.7
08   France 60.0
09   Japan 49.0
10   South Korea 43.8
11   Australia 34.4
12   Italy 32.7
13   Ukraine 31.1
14   Brazil 24.2
15   Canada 24.2
16   Poland 23.5
17   United Arab Emirates 20.7
18   Israel 19.2
19   Spain 19
20   Taiwan 18.9

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

List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database (2023)[7] 		List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Top 15 Defence Budgets 2020[8]
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
* Italic values are SIPRI estimates.
  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.
  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. ^ https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2024-04/2404_fs_milex_2023.pdf#page=2
  7. ^ "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database". Sipri.org. Retrieved 27 April 2024.
  8. ^ "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.