This is a list of countries with the highest military expenditure in a given year. Military expenditure figures are presented in United States dollars based on either constant or current exchange rates. [1]
The first list is based on the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) fact sheet, which includes a list of the world's top 40 military spenders as of 2023, based on current market exchange rates. [1]
The second list is based on the 2024 edition of The Military Balance, published by the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) using average market exchange rates. [2]
Some sources say that Russian and Chinese military spending are actually far higher than the chart due to captive markets and Purchasing Price Parity in those countries. [3] [4]
40 Countries with the highest military spending worldwide in 2023 [1] SIPRI Military Expenditure Database [5] | List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies 2024 edition of "The Military Balance" from the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) [2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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This first list is a list of countries by military expenditure share of GDP—more specifically, a list of the top 15 countries by percentage share in recent years—the amount spent by a nation on its military as a share of its GDP.
The second list presents this as a share of the general government expenditure. The first list is sourced from the SIPRI for the year 2019 and from Military Balance 2017 published by International Institute for Strategic Studies for the year 2016. The second list is sourced only from the SIPRI for the year 2019.
List by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute SIPRI Military Expenditure Database [6] (2022) | List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies Top 15 Defence Budgets 2020 [7] | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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* Bold values with an asterisk above are highly uncertain SIPRI estimates. Italic values are SIPRI estimates. |
The Hellenic Armed Forces are the military forces of Greece. They consist of the Hellenic Army, the Hellenic Navy, and the Hellenic Air Force.
The Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, commonly referred to as the Russian Armed Forces, are the military of Russia. In terms of active-duty personnel, they are the world's fifth-largest military force, with 1.15 million and at least two million reserve personnel. According to the United States' Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), "Russia plans to expand its active personnel force to 1.5 million by 2026, which will make it the third largest in the world, after China and India." The country has three primary branches of service: the Ground Forces, the Navy, and the Aerospace Forces, as well as two independent arms of service: the Strategic Rocket Forces and Airborne Forces. In addition, the Special Operations Forces Command was established in 2013, with an estimated strength in 2022 of 1,000, possibly with additional supporting staff.
The Madagascar Armed Forces is the national military of Madagascar. The IISS detailed the armed forces in 2012 as including an Army of 12,500+, a Navy of 500, and a 500-strong Air Force.
The 2S5 Giatsint-S is a Soviet/Russian 152 mm self-propelled gun. "2S5" is its GRAU designation. It has nuclear, biological, and chemical protection. The 2S5 is capable of engaging targets at longer ranges and at a higher rate of fire than the more widely produced 2S3 Akatsiya 152 mm self-propelled gun, and is capable of firing nuclear projectiles.
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) is an international institute based in Stockholm. It was founded in 1966 and provides data, analysis and recommendations for armed conflict, military expenditure and arms trade as well as disarmament and arms control. The research is based on open sources and is directed to decision-makers, researchers, media and the interested public.
A military budget, also known as a defense budget, is the amount of financial resources dedicated by a state to raising and maintaining an armed forces or other methods essential for defense purposes.
Government spending or expenditure includes all government consumption, investment, and transfer payments. In national income accounting, the acquisition by governments of goods and services for current use, to directly satisfy the individual or collective needs of the community, is classed as government final consumption expenditure. Government acquisition of goods and services intended to create future benefits, such as infrastructure investment or research spending, is classed as government investment. These two types of government spending, on final consumption and on gross capital formation, together constitute one of the major components of gross domestic product.
The military budget of China is the portion of the overall budget of China that is allocated for the funding of the military of China. 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.
NATO is an international military alliance consisting of 32 member states from Europe and North America. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Article 5 of the treaty states that if an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it shall be considered an attack against all members, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary. Article 6 of the treaty limits the scope of Article 5 to the islands north of the Tropic of Cancer, the North American and European mainlands, the entirety of Turkey, and French Algeria, the last of which has been moot since July 1962. Thus, an attack on Hawaii, Puerto Rico, French Guiana, the Falkland Islands, Ceuta or Melilla, among other places, would not trigger an Article 5 response.
The Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland, Also called the Polish Armed Forces And popularly called Wojsko Polskie in Poland are the national armed forces of the Republic of Poland. The name has been used since the early 19th century, but can also be applied to earlier periods. The Polish Legions and the Blue Army, composed of Polish volunteers from America and those who switched sides from the Central Powers, were formed during World War I. In the war's aftermath, the Polish Army was reformed from the remnants of the partitioning powers' forces and expanded significantly during the Polish–Soviet War of 1920.
The military budget of Russia is the portion of the overall budget of Russia that is allocated for the funding of the Russian Armed Forces. 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. According to estimates for the 21 years from 2000, Russia increased its military budget from $9.23bn to $65.9bn, or more than 600 percent. Moscow spends more on the military than any country of the European Union.
Military budget of Turkey, Turkey’s Military Budget is at 100.4 billion Turkish liras, or $44.3 billion, former Turkish Defense Minister İsmet Yılmaz said 8 November 2014. He was responding to a question from an opposition party leader, the Nationalist Movement Party’s Ankara deputy Özcan Yeniçeri, who asked how much Turkey had spent on its defense budget since 2002. Yılmaz said Turkey spent about 1.71 percent of its Gross Domestic Product, or the GDP on defense in 2014. Turkey used to spend 3.5 percent of its GDP on defense in 2002.
Military build-up in Southeast Asia has been a noticeable trend, as shown by force modernization, although there is not necessarily political will to improve military effectiveness. The phenomenon has been attributed to various factors, including protecting economic interest, self-reliance in the reduction of US commitment in the region, domestic and foreign tensions, and the need to replace colonial era material, but also some non-military related factors such as national prestige, political corruption, etc.
The military budget of Iran is the portion of the country's overall budget that is allocated for the funding of the Iranian Armed Forces and the Ministry of Defense and Armed Forces Logistics.