List of countries with highest military expenditures explained

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.

Highest military expenditure, total

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.

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.^[1]

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.^{[2] [3]}

40 countries with the highest military spending worldwide in 2023^[4] SIPRI Military Expenditure Database^[5]	List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies2024 edition of "The Military Balance" from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)^[6]
Rank Country Spending (US$ bn) % of global spending World total 2,443 2.3 100 1 916.0 3.4 37 2 296.0 1.7 12 3 Russia 109.0 5.9 4.5 4 India 83.6 2.4 3.4 5 75.8 7.1 3.1 6 United Kingdom 74.9 2.3 3.1 7 66.8 1.5 2.7 8 Ukraine 64.8 37.0 2.7 9 France 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 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 19.1 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) 1 905.5 2 (PPP) ε407.9 3 (PPP) ε294.6 4 73.6 5 ε73.5 6 69.1 7 63.7 8 60.0 9 Japan 49.0 10 43.8 11 34.4 12 32.7 13 31.1 14 24.2 15 24.2 16 23.5 17 20.7 18 19.2 19 19 20 18.9

Highest military expenditure, share of GDP

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.

As a share of GDP

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 6.26% 6 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 1 12.0 2 Afghanistan 10.6 3 10.5 4 7.1 5 7.1 6 6.7 7 5.8 8 5.6 9 5.4 10 5.3 11 5.2 12 4.9 13 4.8 14 4.5 15 4.4
Italic values are SIPRI estimates.

Notes

1. 2024-12-31 . International Comparisons of Defence Expenditure and Military Personnel . The Military Balance . en . 124 . 1 . 542–547 . 10.1080/04597222.2024.2298600 . 0459-7222.
2. Web site: 2019-12-16. Why Russian Military Expenditure Is Much Higher Than Commonly Understood (As Is China's). 2021-12-12. War on the Rocks. en-US. 12 December 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20211212212216/https://warontherocks.com/2019/12/why-russian-military-expenditure-is-much-higher-than-commonly-understood-as-is-chinas/. live.
3. Web site: 2019-05-03. Russian defense spending is much larger, and more sustainable than it seems. live. 2021-12-12. Defensenews. en-US. 11 March 2022. https://web.archive.org/web/20220311105115/https://www.defensenews.com/opinion/commentary/2019/05/03/russian-defense-spending-is-much-larger-and-more-sustainable-than-it-seems/.
4. Web site: April 2024. Trends in Military Expenditure 2023. 22 April 2024 . Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
5. Web site: Data for all countries from 1988–2020 in constant (2019) USD (pdf). SIPRI. 28 April 2021. 28 April 2021. https://web.archive.org/web/20210428180002/https://sipri.org/sites/default/files/Data%20for%20all%20countries%20from%201988%E2%80%932020%20in%20constant%20(2019)%20USD%20(pdf).pdf. live.
6. 2024-12-31 . International Comparisons of Defence Expenditure and Military Personnel . The Military Balance . en . 124 . 1 . 542–547 . 10.1080/04597222.2024.2298600 . 0459-7222.
7. Web site: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database . Sipri.org. 2024-04-27. en.
8. January 2021 . IISS Military Balance 2021 . live . The Military Balance . International Institute for Strategic Studies . 121 . 1 . 23–29 . 10.1080/04597222.2021.1868791 . 232050862 . https://web.archive.org/web/20211007224534/https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/04597222.2021.1868791 . 7 October 2021 . 25 February 2021.

^{[9] [10] [11]}

See also

• Arms industry
• Military budget
• List of countries by past military expenditure
• List of countries with highest military expenditure per capita
• List of countries by Global Militarization Index
• List of countries in Europe by military expenditures

External links

• SIPRI military expenditure database (sipri.org)