Spending on military expenses is already around three billion dollars
Global military spending increased by almost 3% in 2025, driven mainly by the exponential growth in defense spending in Europe and Asia, according to a report released this Monday by a respected arms watchdog group.
Defense spending in Europe jumped 14% compared to 2024, reaching US$864 billion, and in Asia-Oceania the increase was 8.1%, to US$681 billion, reports the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in its “Trends in World Military Spending”.
In total, almost $2.9 billion was spent on military programs worldwide in 2025, an increase of 2.9% from the previous year. This value represents 2.5% of the world’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the highest percentage since 2009, according to SIPRI.
The United States, China, Russia, Germany and India were the countries that spent the most, collectively representing 58% of the global total.
While the report notes that the annual increase in total spending represents a decline from the 9.7% increase recorded in 2024, it states that this was primarily due to the United States not approving new spending to help arm Ukraine in 2025. SIPRI counts foreign military assistance in the donor country’s accounts.
When the US is excluded from the statistics, global defense spending increased by 9.2% in 2025, according to the report.
Still, the USA continues to be the country that spends the most on Defense in the world – 954 billion dollars in 2025 -, followed by China, with around 336 billion dollars, and Russia, with around 190 billion dollars.
But it was U.S. allies around the world who led the spending increase, revealing some generational shifts.
“In 2025, military spending by NATO’s European members grew faster than at any time since 1953, reflecting the continued quest for European self-sufficiency, coupled with increasing pressure from the United States to reinforce the division of responsibilities within the alliance,” said Jade Guiberteau Ricard, researcher at SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Armaments Production Program, in a statement.
NATO countries with large increases include Belgium (59%), Spain (50%), Norway (49%), Denmark (46%), Germany (24%), Poland (23%) and Canada (23%).
Germany’s total military expenditure of $114 billion places it in 4th place in the world.
In Asia, Japan increased its military spending by 9.7% to $62.2 billion, according to the report. In relation to Japanese GDP, the 1.4% spent on Defense represents the highest percentage since 1958, according to the report.
“US allies in Asia and Oceania, such as Australia, Japan and the Philippines, are spending more on their militaries, not only due to long-standing regional tensions, but also due to growing uncertainty about US support,” says Diego Lopes da Silva, senior researcher at SIPRI.
Meanwhile, Taiwan, the democratic, self-governing island that the Chinese Communist Party claims as part of its territory despite never having controlled it, increased its military spending by 14.2%, to $18.2 billion (2.1% of GDP), the biggest jump since at least 1988, according to SIPRI.
Under the Taiwan Relations Law, Washington is legally obliged to provide the island with the means to defend itself and supplies Taipei with defensive weaponry.
China’s defense spending rose 7.4% – the biggest annual jump in the last decade and the 31st consecutive year of growth – as Beijing moves towards its goal of modernizing its military by 2035, according to the report.
In percentage terms of GDP, Ukraine is the country that spends the most on Defense in the world, with around 40%. Kiev is in its fourth year of fighting a Russian invasion. Ukraine occupies 7th place in the world rankings.
Russia allocated 7.5% of its GDP to the Armed Forces, an increase of 5.9% compared to 2024.
“In 2025, military spending as a percentage of government spending reached the highest level ever recorded in both Russia and Ukraine,” explains SIPRI researcher Lorenzo Scarazzato. “This spending is likely to continue to grow in 2026, should the war continue, with increased revenues from Russian oil sales and the expectation of a large loan from the European Union to Ukraine.”
Analyzing other regions, Saudi Arabia was the country that spent the most on Defense in the Middle East, with 83.2 billion dollars, an increase of 1.4% compared to the previous year.
Israel came next, spending US$48.3 billion in the region. This figure represents a drop of 4.9% compared to the previous year, due to the decrease in hostilities in Gaza after Israel and Hamas agreed to a ceasefire in January 2025, according to SIPRI.
Iran recorded a 5.6% drop in its spending in real terms, but high inflation of 42%, coupled with funding from unaccounted oil sales, means that Tehran’s military spending has likely increased, according to the report.
“Official figures almost certainly underestimate Iran’s true level of expenditure – the country also uses extra-budgetary oil revenues to finance its Armed Forces, including the production of missiles and drones,” says Zubaida Karim, SIPRI researcher.
In South Asia, India’s military spending, driven by the conflict with Pakistan, soared 8.9%, reaching US$92.1 billion. New Delhi ranks 5th in the world and spent 80 billion dollars more than Islamabad.
In Africa, military spending increased by 8.5% overall, reaching US$58.2 billion. This value would place the entire continent in 11th place if it were a single country, behind Japan and ahead of Israel. Algeria is the country that spends the most on the continent and is only behind Ukraine in terms of GDP allocated to the Armed Forces (25%). SIPRI predicts even greater increases in Defense spending for the current year.
“Considering the range of current crises, as well as the long-term military spending goals of many countries, this growth will likely continue until 2026 and beyond,” reiterates SIPRI researcher Xiao Liang in the report.
The US is expected to be one of the main drivers of this growth. Congress has already approved more than a trillion dollars in defense spending for 2026, given that the war against Iran, which is about to enter its third month, costs Washington about a billion dollars a day.
For 2027, the Trump administration proposes a defense budget of 1.5 billion dollars.
