The independent resource on global security
Rebalancing Military Spending Towards Achieving Sustainable Development
Amid a deteriorating global security environment, world military expenditure reached US$2.7 trillion in 2024. This surge coincided with faltering progress on reaching the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals. A state’s spending on the military can have substantial adverse impacts on its sustainable development—such as diverting resources from social expenditure, slowing economic growth, increasing inequality and contributing to climate change through greenhouse gas emissions.
To address these diverging trends and their consequences, the UN needs to revitalize its disarmament machinery to debate military spending’s impact on development. States should adopt a human-centred approach to security; that is, states must balance the security of the state with upholding their commitments to domestic and overseas development. In addition, civil society should mobilize public debate to advocate for a human-centred security that prioritizes sustainable development.
Table of contents
I. Rising global military expenditure and the lagging progress towards the Sustainable Development Goals: A path to a development crisis
II. Military expenditure at the expense of sustainable development
III. Supporting sustainable development through a human-centred approach to security
IV. Looking ahead: Steps by the United Nations, states and civil society
ABOUT THE AUTHOR(S)/EDITORS
Dr Nan Tian is a Senior Researcher and Programme Director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.
Xiao Liang is a Researcher in the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.