In the midst of changing geopolitical relations, wars and rising tensions, the year 2024 saw the steepest rise in global military spending since the end of the Cold War, to $ 2.7 trillion, researchers said Monday. The military expenditure worldwide increased with particularly rapid growth in Europe and the Middle East- the epicenter of two major conflicts in Gaza and Ukraine- according to a new report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (Sipri).
“More than 100 countries around the world raised their military expenditure in 2024,” said Sipri, according to a report from Reuters.
“Because governments are increasingly giving priority to military safety, often at the expense of other budget areas, economic and social considerations can still have considerable effects on the societies for years,” it added.
In real terms, expenditure increased by 9.4 percent worldwide compared to 2023, with 2024 marking the 10th year of successive expenditure increases.
Europe sees an unprecedented walk
The data showed that many European countries (including Russia) saw an “unprecedented” increase in their military expenses in the midst of war in Ukraine and doubts about American dedication to NATO alliance. With an increase of 17 percent, European military expenditures have been reached beyond the level that was registered at the end of the Cold War, the data shows.
Russia's military editions reached an estimated $ 149 billion in 2024, an increase of 38 percent compared to 2023 and double the level in 2015. This represented 7.1 percent of Russian GDP and 19% of all government spending.
The total military editions of Ukraine grew by 2.9 percent to $ 64.7 billion, which amounts to 43 percent of Russia's expenditure. With 34 percent of GDP, Ukraine had the greatest military burden for each country in 2024.
“Ukraine currently admits all his tax revenues to his army … In such a tight tax space it will be a challenge for Ukraine to continue to increase his military expenses,” Sipri said.
Germany's expenditure also rose 28 percent and reached $ 88.5 billion, in which India caught up as the fourth largest in the world. With this, Germany has become the biggest spender for the first time in Central and Western Europe for the first time since the reunification.
Although some of the increases are the result of European military aid to Ukraine, it is also fed by concern about potential American withdrawal with the alliance.
“There has really been a shift in the European Defense Policy, where we will see large -scale purchasing plans in the arms industry in the coming years,” Xiao Liang, a researcher at the Sipri, told AFP.
Midden -East War a factor
Military budgets have also drastically increased in the middle -East to an estimated $ 243 billion, an increase of 15 percent compared to 2023. Data showed that while Israel continued his offensive in Gaza, military editions are 65 percent to $ 46.5 billion in 2024.
Sipri noted that this was “the steepest annual increase since the six -day war in 1967”.
Iran, on the other hand, fell by 10 percent to $ 7.9 billion in 2024, “despite his involvement in regional conflicts and the support for regional proxies,” the report said.
“The impact of sanctions on Iran limited its capacity to increase expenses,” said Sipri.
China also increased his expenses
The second largest spender in the world, China, increased his military budget by 7.0 percent to an estimated $ 314 billion, “who marked consecutive growth for three decades”.
China – which invested in modernizing its military and expansion of cyberwarfare capacities and nuclear arsenal – accounted for half of all military editions in Asia and Oceania.
Not behind us
Military expenditures by the US world's largest spender-rise by 5.7 percent to reach $ 997 billion, which was 66 percent of the total NATO expenditure and 37 percent of military world spending in 2024.
The total military expenditure by the 32 members of the alliance led by the US rose to 1.5 trillion as all members raised their expenses.
“We saw in 2024 that 18 of the 32 NATO countries achieved the GDP expenditure objective of two percent, which is the highest since the alliance was founded,” said Liang.
Top 5 countries with the highest defense budgets in 2025
Countries around the world reinforce their military troops to make their power and influence apply in an increasingly fierce and complex geopolitical world.
The US, China, Russia, India and Saudi -Arabia are the top five of their military competence per Globalfirepower Index data.
United States spend $ 895,000,000,000 ($ 895 billion)
China spends $ 266,850,000,000 ($ 266.85 billion)
Russia spends $ 126,000,000,000 ($ 126 billion)
India spends $ 75,000,000,000 ($ 75 billion)
Saudi -Arabia spends $ 74,760,000,000 ($ 74.76 billion)
