Military Spending (% of GDP) by Country — 2024 World Rankings

Military expenditure as a percentage of GDP measures the share of economic output devoted to defense. This includes spending on armed forces, weapons procurement, military research, and related infrastructure. The data primarily comes from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) via the World Bank, supplemented by national defense budget disclosures.

Global military spending exceeded $2.4 trillion in 2024, with the United States accounting for roughly 40% of the total. The US spends approximately 3.5% of GDP on defense — more than the next 10 countries combined in absolute terms. NATO members have committed to spending at least 2% of GDP on defense, a target that most European members failed to meet for decades but are now rapidly approaching following Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Russia itself spends an estimated 6–8% of GDP on military, though exact figures are unreliable due to off-budget spending and state secrecy.

Military spending trends reflect geopolitical tensions: Middle Eastern countries like Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the UAE consistently spend 4–6% of GDP on defense due to regional security threats. In contrast, Japan maintained spending below 1% of GDP for decades under its post-WWII pacifist constitution, though it has recently increased toward 2%. For developing countries, excessive military spending can crowd out investments in health, education, and infrastructure that drive long-term economic growth — a phenomenon economists call the "guns versus butter" trade-off.