Military expenditure of China, Russia and U.S. in constant 2021 US$ billions
The military budget of the People's Republic of China is the portion of the overall government budget that is allocated for the funding of the People's Liberation Army. This military budget finances employee salaries and training costs, the maintenance of equipment and facilities, support of new or ongoing operations, and development and procurement of new weapons, equipment, and vehicles. Every March, as part of its annual state budget, China releases a single overall figure for national military expenditures. As of 2025[update], the official military budget was announced to be 1.78 trillion yuan (US$246 billion), the second largest in the world behind the US.[1]
According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, SIPRI, China was the fourth largest arms exporter in 2019–23 when it accounted for 5.8 per cent of total global arms exports. Its arms exports decreased by 5.3 per cent compared to 2014–18. The bulk of Chinese arms exports (85 per cent) went to states in Asia and Oceania, followed by states in Africa (9.9 per cent). China delivered major arms to 40 states in 2019–23, but well over half of its arms exports (61 per cent) went to just one state—Pakistan.[2]
The Chinese government annually announces the budget for the internal security forces and the PLA at the National People's Congress in early March.
2014: the budget was announced to be US$131billion.[10]
2015: the budget was announced to be US$141billion.[11] At the same time, the Chinese government estimated the Chinese economy to grow 7% in 2015.[12]
2016: the budget was announced to be 954.35 billion yuan (US$147 billion), raised 6-7% above last year's estimates.[13]
2017: the budget was announced to be 1.044 trillion yuan ($151.4 billion), which is an increase of 7% over the last year.[14]
2018: the budget was announced to be 1.11 trillion yuan (US$175 billion), which is an increase of 8.1% over the last year.[15] This was China's largest defense budget raise in three years.[16]
2019: the budget was announced to be 1.19 trillion yuan (US$176 billion), which is an increase of 7.5% over the last year.
2020: the budget was announced to be 1.27 trillion yuan (US$178 billion), which is an increase of 6.6% over the last year.[17]
2021: the budget was announced to be 1.35 trillion yuan (US$209 billion), which is an increase of 6.8% over the last year.[18]
2022: the budget was announced to be 1.45 trillion yuan (US$230 billion), which is an increase of 7.1% over the last year.[19]
2023: the budget was announced to be 1.55 trillion yuan (US$224 billion), which is an increase of 7.2% over the last year.[20]
2024: the budget was announced to be 1.67 trillion yuan (US$231 billion), which is an increase of 7.2% over the last year.[21]
2025: the budget was announced to be 1.78 trillion yuan (US$246 billion), which is an increase of 7.2% over the last year.[1]
Unofficial estimates
Unofficial estimates place the total amount of military spending for China higher than the Chinese government figures, but these calculations tend to differ between organizations.
A RAND Corporation study for year 2003 estimated China's defense spending to be higher than the official number but lower than United States Department of Defense calculations. The defense spending of China was estimated, in the mid-range estimate, to be 38 billion dollars or 2.3% of China's GDP in 2003. The official figure was 22.4 billion dollars. Nevertheless, Chinese military spending doubled between 1997 and 2003, nearly reaching the level of the United Kingdom and Japan, and it continued to grow over 10% annually during 2003–2005.[22]
In 2010, the US Department of Defense's annual report to Congress on China's military strength estimated the actual 2009 Chinese military spending at US$150 billion.[23]Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) estimates that the military spending of the People's Republic of China for 2009 was US$100 billion,[24] higher than the official budget, but lower than the US DoD estimate.
Jane's Defence Forecasts in 2012 estimated that China's defense budget would increase from $119.80 billion to $238.20 billion between 2011 and 2015. This would make it larger than the defense budgets of all other major Asian nations combined. This is still smaller than the estimated United States defense budget of $525.40 billion for 2013. However, United States defense spending is slightly declining.[26]
In 2017, the magazine Popular Mechanics estimated that China's annual military spending is greater than $200 billion, around 2% of the GDP.[27]
In 2019, Peter Robertson, a professor from the University of Western Australia, argued that using conventional currency conversion as opposed to more accurate "purchasing power parity" (PPP) exchange rates dramatically understated China's military capabilities and that China's real military spending was equivalent to US spending of $455 billion, calculated from a PPP perspective.[28]
↑ Wezeman, Siemon T.; Djokic, Katarina; George, Mathew; Hussain, Zain; Wezeman, Pieter D. "Developments among the suppliers of major arms, 2019–23". SIPRI Yearbook 2024. Oxford University Press. ISBN9780198930570. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
↑ Office of the Secretary of Defense - Annual Report to Congress: Military Power of the People's Republic of China 2010 (PDF) "Archived copy"(PDF). Archived from the original(PDF) on 2015-03-20. Retrieved 2015-04-21.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
↑ Tian, Nan; Lopes Da Silva, Diego; Liang, Xiao; Scarazzato, Lorenzo (April 2024). "Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2023". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
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