Global military spending at record high in 2025
Global military expenditure reached a record $2.89 trillion in 2025, up 2.9 percent from the previous year, in the face of ongoing conflicts and heightened insecurity, an international security think tank said on Monday.
The 11th consecutive year of increase comes on the back of a 14 percent surge in Europe and an 8.1 percent rise in Asia and Oceania. The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute attributed the rise in Europe to Nato members’ pursuit of self-reliance alongside increasing US pressure to strengthen burden sharing within the alliance.
European expenditure stood at $864 billion and that of Asia and Oceania at $681 billion. The global military burden—military expenditure as a share of gross domestic product—rose to 2.5 percent, its highest level since 2009.
Short-lived decline
Military spending by the United States shrank 7.5 percent from the previous year to $954 billion in 2025, primarily because no new financial military assistance for Ukraine was approved during the year, according to the think tank’s analysis.
However, the decline in expenditure of the world’s biggest military spender “is likely to be short-lived,” said Nan Tian, director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, as spending approved by the US Congress for 2026 has climbed to over $1 trillion and could rise further to $1.5 trillion in 2027.
China, the second-largest military spender in the world, increased its expenditure by 7.4 percent to an estimated $336 billion, marking the 31st consecutive year-on-year expansion.
With third-ranked Russia increasing its spending by 5.9 percent to an estimated $190 billion, the top three spenders accounted for 51 percent of the global total.
Tenth-ranked Japan ratcheted up its expenditure by 9.7 percent to $62.2 billion, equivalent to 1.4 percent of GDP, the highest share since 1958, according to SIPRI.
Military spending in the Middle East was relatively stable at an estimated $218 billion in 2025, 0.1 percent higher than in 2024, despite prolonged conflicts and regional rivalries.
