Created by ImportMaster
Last edited September 30, 2023


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Map of military spending as a percentage of GDP for countries as of 2022, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute[1]
Global military spending in 2021

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

Military expenditure, total[edit | edit source]

The first list is based on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) fact sheet, which includes a list of the world's top 15 military spenders as of 2022, based on current market exchange rates.[1]

The second list is based on the 2022 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]

List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
2023 Fact Sheet (for 2022)[1]
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database[5]
List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Top 15 Defence Budgets 2021
[6]
Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)
% of GDP % of global spending
World total 2,240 2.2 100%
01 Error creating thumbnail: File missing United States 877.0 3.5 39%
02 Error creating thumbnail: File missing China[lower-alpha 1] 292.0 1.6 13%
03 Russia Russia 86.4 4.1 3.9%
04 India India 81.4 2.4 3.6%
05 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Saudi Arabia[lower-alpha 1][lower-alpha 2] 75.0 7.4 3.3%
06 Error creating thumbnail: File missing United Kingdom 68.5 2.2 3.1%
07 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Germany 55.8 1.4 2.5%
08 Error creating thumbnail: File missing France[lower-alpha 3] 53.6 1.9 2.4%
09 Error creating thumbnail: File missing South Korea 46.4 2.7 2.1%
100 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Japan 46.0 1.1 2.1%
11 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Ukraine 44.0 34 2.0%
12 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Italy 33.5 1.7 1.5%
13 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Australia 32.3 1.9 1.4%
14 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Canada 26.9 1.2 1.2%
15 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Israel 23.4 4.5 1.0%
16 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Spain 20.3 1.5 0.9%
17 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Brazil 20.2 1.1 0.9%
18 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Poland[lower-alpha 3] 16.6 2.4 0.7%
19 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Netherlands 15.6 1.6 0.7%
20 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Qatar 15.4 7.0 0.7%
2022 edition of "The Military Balance" from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)
01 Error creating thumbnail: File missing United States 738.0
02 Error creating thumbnail: File missing China 193.3
03 India India 64.1
04 Error creating thumbnail: File missing United Kingdom 61.5
05 Russia Russia 60.6
06 Error creating thumbnail: File missing France 56.8
07 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Germany 51.3
08 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Japan 49.7
09 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Saudi Arabia 48.5
10 Error creating thumbnail: File missing South Korea 40.4
11 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Australia 31.3
12 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Italy 29.3
13 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Brazil 22.1
14 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Canada 20.0
15 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Israel 19.9

Military expenditure, share of GDP[edit | edit source]

This first list is a list of countries by military expenditure share of GDP—more specifically, a list of the top 15 countries by percentage share in recent years—the amount spent by a nation on its military as a share of its GDP.

The second list presents this as a share of the general government expenditure. The first list is sourced from the SIPRI for the year 2019 and from Military Balance 2017 published by International Institute for Strategic Studies for the year 2016. The second list is sourced only from the SIPRI for the year 2019.

As a share of GDP[edit | edit source]

List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database
[7] (2019)
List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Top 15 Defence Budgets 2020
[6]
Rank Country % of GDP
1 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Oman 8.8%
2 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Saudi Arabia 8.5%
3 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Algeria 6.0%
4  Kuwait 5.6%
5 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Israel 5.3%
6 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Armenia 4.9%
7 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Jordan 4.7%
8 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Lebanon 4.2%
9 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Azerbaijan 4.0%
10 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Pakistan 4.0%
11  Russia 3.9%
12 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Bahrain 3.7%
13 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Iraq 3.5%*
14 Error creating thumbnail: File missing USA 3.4%
15 Error creating thumbnail: File missing South Sudan 3.4%
Rank Country % of GDP
01 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Oman 12.0
02 File:Flag of Afghanistan (2004–2021).svg Islamic Republic of Afghanistan 10.6
03 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Lebanon 10.5
04  Kuwait 7.1
05 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Saudi Arabia 7.1
06 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Algeria 6.7
07 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Iraq 5.8
08 Error creating thumbnail: File missing UAE 5.6
09 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Azerbaijan 5.4
10 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Morocco 5.3
11 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Israel 5.2
12 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Jordan 4.9
13 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Armenia 4.8
14 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Mali 4.5
15 Error creating thumbnail: File missing Qatar 4.4
* Bold values with an asterisk above are highly uncertain SIPRI estimates.

Italic values are SIPRI estimates.

Notes[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 SIPRI estimate.
  2. The figures for Saudi Arabia include expenditure for public order and safety and might be slightly overestimated.[citation needed]
  3. 3.0 3.1 The figures for France and Poland exclude expenditure for Gendarmerie nationale and Żandarmeria Wojskowa. Inclusive of the Gendarmerie militarised police forces, France's spending is circa $67.17bn and Poland $14.8bn

See also[edit | edit source]

References[edit | edit source]

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 "Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2022" (PDF). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. April 2023. Retrieved 29 April 2023.
  2. International Institute for Strategic Studies (25 February 2021). The Military Balance 2021. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1032012278.
  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. 6.0 6.1 "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.
  7. Excel file here Archived 12 December 2020 at the Wayback Machine | Derived from SIPRI's own webpage Archived 2 May 2019 at the Wayback Machine.

External links[edit | edit source]

Template:Military country lists