Defence budgets often make headlines for the sheer scale of spending, typically running into billions of dollars. In the last financial year, governments across the world spent over $2.88 billion on defence, with a handful of countries accounting for the lion’s share.
This year too, the United States remains far ahead, with a defence budget of $961 billion. The Pentagon has also sought an additional $200 billion due to the ongoing conflict in the Persian Gulf.
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China is also steadily increasing its military spending. This year, the Chinese Communist Party has allocated the equivalent of $281 billion, marking an increase of over 7%. China is followed by Russia at $166 billion, Germany at $108 billion and India at $94 billion.
Defence budgets worldwide are on the rise. Lessons from conflicts in Ukraine and West Asia are pushing countries to spend more, as they adapt to a new, increasingly computerised way of fighting wars. With Europe rearming and many Nato members pledging to raise defence spending to 5% of GDP, global military expenditure is expected to increase further over the next decade.
The United States alone is working towards increasing its defence budget to $1.5 trillion in the next financial year, according to the International Institute of Strategic Studies (IISS).
America’s current spending already exceeds the combined defence budgets of the next eight countries. The chart below shows how defence spending relates to overall economic strength.
Another way to understand defence spending is by looking at how seriously countries prioritise security, measured as a share of their GDP.
According to data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), war-torn Ukraine tops the list, allocating 40% of its GDP to defence. Israel follows at 7.8% and Russia at 7.5%.
The United States ranks 11th, spending 3.1% of its GDP on defence. Pakistan, at 2.9%, ranks ahead of India, which stands at 30th position with 1.9% of its GDP allocated to defence.
A third way to interpret defence spending is through per capita expenditure; how much each country spends per person.
In this measure, smaller countries often outpace larger ones. Israel tops the list at $4,153, followed by Qatar at $3,935, according to SIPRI data for 2025. The global average stands at $352.
These figures show that defence budgets are more than just headline numbers. They reveal how nations project military power based on economic strength, how high defence ranks as a national priority, and how the financial burden of security is distributed across citizens.
