List of countries with highest military expenditures

The following is a list of countries with the highest military expenditures.

By total spending

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 2025, based on current market exchange rates.[1]

The second list is based on the 2026 edition of The Military Balance, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) using average market exchange rates.[2]

40 countries with the highest military spending worldwide in 2025[1]
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database 		List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies

2026 edition of "The Military Balance" from the
International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS)
for the year 2025[2]

Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)		 % of GDP % of global
spending
1 United States United States 954.0 3.1 33.0
2 China China[a] 336.0 1.7 12.0
3 Russia Russia[a] 190.0 7.5 6.6
4 Germany Germany 114.0 2.3 3.9
5 India India 92.1 2.3 3.2
6 United Kingdom United Kingdom 89.0 2.4 3.1
7 Ukraine Ukraine 84.1 40.0 2.9
8 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia[a] 83.2 6.5 2.9
9 France France[b] 68.0 2.0 2.4
10 Japan Japan 62.2 1.4 2.2
11 Israel Israel 48.3 7.8 1.7
12 Italy Italy 48.1 1.9 1.7
13 South Korea South Korea 47.8 2.6 1.7
14 Poland Poland[b] 46.8 4.5 1.6
15 Spain Spain 40.2 2.1 1.4
16 Canada Canada 37.5 1.6 1.3
17 Australia Australia 35.3 1.9 1.2
18 Turkey Turkey[b] 30.0 1.9 1.0
19 Netherlands Netherlands 28.9 2.2 1.0
20 Algeria Algeria 25.4 8.8 0.9
21 Brazil Brazil 23.9 1.1 0.8
22 Taiwan Taiwan 18.2 2.1 0.6
23 Singapore Singapore 17.4 3.0 0.6
24 Norway Norway 17.0 3.3 0.6
25 Sweden Sweden 16.5 2.5 0.6
26 Indonesia Indonesia 15.0 1.0 0.5
27 Denmark Denmark 14.9 3.3 0.5
28 Belgium Belgium 14.5 2.0 0.5
29 Colombia Colombia 14.5 3.2 0.5
30 Mexico Mexico 13.6 0.7 0.5
31 Pakistan Pakistan 11.9 2.9 0.4
32 Vietnam Viet Nam 10.5 2.2 0.4
33 Romania Romania 9.7 2.3 0.3
34 Greece Greece 8.4 3.0 0.3
35 Kuwait Kuwait 8.1 4.7 0.3
36 Finland Finland 8.1 2.6 0.3
37 Switzerland Switzerland 7.6 0.8 0.3
38 Iran Iran 7.4 2.1 0.3
39 Czech Republic Czech Republic 7.1 1.8 0.2
40 Iraq Iraq 6.4 2.4 0.2
Rank Country Spending
(US$ bn)
1 United States United States 921.0
2 China China 251.3
3 Russia Russia 186.2
4 Germany Germany 107.3
5 United Kingdom United Kingdom 94.3
6 India India 78.3
7 Saudi Arabia Saudi Arabia 72.5
8 France France 70.0
9 Japan Japan 58.9
10 Ukraine Ukraine 44.4
11 South Korea South Korea 43.8
12 Italy Italy 40.1
13 Israel Israel 39.7
14 Australia Australia 37.3
15 Poland Poland 33.2

By share of GDP

The following lists are 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, while the second list gets its data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database (2025)[3] 		List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies
Top 15 Defence Budgets 2020[4]
Rank Country % of GDP
1 Ukraine 39.56%
2 Algeria 8.83%
3 Israel 7.81%
4 Russia 7.50%
5 Saudi Arabia 6.48%
6 Azerbaijan 6.47%
7 Armenia 6.09%
8 Oman 5.68%
9 Kuwait 4.69%
10 Jordan 4.56%
11 Poland 4.50%
12 Mali 3.87%
13 Latvia 3.61%
14 Morocco 3.54%
15 South Sudan 3.42%
16 Estonia 3.37%
17 Burkina Faso 3.30%
18 Norway 3.28%
19 Denmark 3.25%
20 Burundi 3.24%
21 Colombia 3.20%
22 Chad 3.19%
23 United States 3.12%
24 Botswana 3.11%
25 Bahrain 3.11%
26 Lithuania 3.08%
27 Singapore 3.05%
28 Greece 2.99%
29 Kyrgyzstan 2.92%
30 Pakistan 2.91%
Rank Country % of GDP
1 Oman 12.0%
2 Afghanistan 10.6%
3 Lebanon 10.5%
4 Kuwait 7.1%
5 Saudi Arabia 7.1%
6 Algeria 6.7%
7 Iraq 5.8%
8 UAE 5.6%
9 Azerbaijan 5.4%
10 Morocco 5.3%
11 Israel 5.2%
12 Jordan 4.9%
13 Armenia 4.8%
14 Mali 4.5%
15 Qatar 4.4%
* Italic values are SIPRI estimates.

Graphics

See also

Notes

  1. ^ a b c SIPRI estimate
  2. ^ a b c The figures for France, Poland and Turkey exclude expenditure for National Gendarmerie, Żandarmeria Wojskowa and Gendarmerie General Command.

References

  1. ^ a b "Trends in Military Expenditure 2025" (PDF). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. April 2026. Retrieved 26 April 2026.
  2. ^ a b "The Military Balance 2026: Global defence spending". IISS. Retrieved 24 February 2026.
  3. ^ "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database | SIPRI". www.sipri.org. Retrieved 27 April 2026.
  4. ^ "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.
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