Explainer
The world’s largest military personnel, the United States has allocated $880 billion to its defenses for the next eight countries.
European leaders met in Paris for an emergency summit to discuss how to respond to President Donald Trump’s decision to hold talks with Russia to end the Ukrainian war without European involvement. It’s there.
Monday’s meeting in the French capital followed the Munich Security Conference, which ended on Sunday, with Vice President JD Vance reiterating Trump’s stance that Europe must increase defence spending.
In January, Trump called on NATO European members to allocate 5% of their national total product (GDP) to defense. NATO Secretary-General Mark Latte has also encouraged member states to increase their defensive spending.
How much is military spending worldwide?
According to the Stockholm International Peace Institute (SIPRI), global military spending was $2.44 trillion in 2023, or $306 per capita, up 6.8% from the previous year. This was the biggest year-on-year rise since 2009.
By comparison, in 2000, global military spending was $798 million, or $130 per person. This was less than a third of today’s expenses.
Global military spending is the total money a country spends on military and related activities. This includes the costs of soldiers, operations, weapons, equipment, research and military infrastructure.
Which countries spend the most on the military?
The United States is the world’s largest military Spender. According to Sipri, it paid $880 billion in 2023.
China is the second-highest Spender with $390 billion, followed by Russia with $126 billion, India with $830 billion and Saudi Arabia with N744.
The table below shows total military spending across the world and per capita expenditure and expenditure as a percentage of GDP and government budgets. Click on a column to sort the table from highest to lowest.
Which country spends the most on the military as its share of GDP?
Due to the ongoing war with Russia, Ukraine allocated $62 billion to the military in 2023, with the highest shares in GDP at 36.7%.
Lebanon ranked second, spending 8.9% of GDP, with Algeria spending 8.2%, Saudi Arabia spending 7.1% and South Sudan spending 6.3%.
How much does each NATO member spend?
Founded in 1949 by 12 founding members, NATO is the world’s most powerful military alliance. Its original purpose was to limit Soviet expansion and promote political unity in Europe.
Over the past 75 years, its membership has grown to 32 members, with Finland and Sweden becoming the latest countries to participate in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

In 2006, the alliance’s defense minister agreed to commit a minimum of 2% of GDP to defence spending to ensure the alliance’s military preparation.
Currently, two-thirds of the members (23 out of 32) have fulfilled this commitment, raising the funds that all NATO members spent on defense in 2024 to $1.47 trillion. A country that will fulfill its commitment in 2014.
The table below shows NATO members’ defense spending as share of GDP, based on NATO’s 2024 report.
Source link