3. Military expenditure

Estimated global military expenditure rose for the 10th consecutive year in 2024, to reach $2.7 trillion, driven by the Russia–Ukraine war and other armed conflicts and geopolitical tensions. The 9.4 per cent increase in total military spending in 2024 pushed estimated world spending to the highest level recorded by SIPRI. As a result, the global military burden—world military expenditure as a share of world gross domestic product (GDP)—rose to 2.5 per cent. For countries with major or high-intensity armed conflicts in 2024 the average military burden was 4.4 per cent, com-pared with 1.9 per cent in countries with no such conflict.

Between 2015 and 2024, world military expenditure rose by 37 per cent and increased across all five geographic regions. The biggest increase was in Europe (+83 per cent), followed by Asia 
and Oceania (+46 per cent), the Americas (+19 per cent), the Middle East (+19 per cent) and Africa (+11 per cent).

The United States remained by far the largest military spender in the world. Its expenditure of $997 billion in 2024 was 3.2 times more than the next biggest spender, China.

In 2024 military spending rose in all countries in Europe other than Malta as total European spending increased by 17 per cent. Spending went up in Russia (+38 per cent) and Ukraine (+2.9 per cent) during the year, while 17 of the 30 European members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) reached or surpassed the alliance’s 2.0 per cent of GDP spending guideline, with notable spending increases recorded by Romania (+43 per cent), the Netherlands (+35 per cent), Sweden (+34 per cent), Poland (+31 per cent) and Germany (+28 per cent).

In Asia and Oceania estimated military expenditure rose for the 35th consecutive year. Spending by China, which grew by 7.0 per cent to reach $314 billion in 2024, accounted for half of the regional total. Countries’ tensions with China influenced spending decisions across the region in 2024: in Japan, for example, spending went up by 21 per cent, the largest year-on-year spending increase since 1952.

Estimated military spending in the Middle East grew by 15 per cent in 2024, with increases in all three of the biggest spenders in the region: Saudi Arabia (+1.5 per cent), Israel (+65 per cent) and Türkiye (+12 per cent).