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The United States had the world’s largest military expenditure in 2025, at $954 billion, followed by China at an estimated $336 billion. The ranking below uses the latest available annual figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), released in April 2026. “Largest” refers to spending scale—not a judgment about which military is strongest.
What are the world’s biggest military budgets?
SIPRI’s ranking covers calendar-year 2025. Amounts are US$ billions as reported by SIPRI; figures in square brackets are estimates. The 2024–25 changes are real-terms changes at constant 2024 prices, not simple nominal increases or decreases. GDP shares use IMF estimates for 2025.
| 2025 rank | Country | Military expenditure (US$bn) | Change from 2024 | Share of GDP | Share of world spending |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | United States | 954 | −7.5% | 3.1% | 33% |
| 2 | China | [336] | +7.4% | [1.7%] | [12%] |
| 3 | Russia | [190] | +5.9% | [7.5%] | [6.6%] |
| 4 | Germany | 114 | +24% | 2.3% | 3.9% |
| 5 | India | 92.1 | +8.9% | 2.3% | 3.2% |
| 6 | United Kingdom | 89.0 | −2.0% | 2.4% | 3.1% |
| 7 | Ukraine | [84.1] | +20% | [40%] | [2.9%] |
| 8 | Saudi Arabia | [83.2] | +1.4% | [6.5%] | [2.9%] |
| 9 | France | 68.0 | +1.5% | 2.0% | 2.4% |
| 10 | Japan | 62.2 | +9.7% | 1.4% | 2.2% |
| 11 | Israel | 48.3 | −4.9% | 7.8% | 1.7% |
| 12 | Italy | 48.1 | +20% | 1.9% | 1.7% |
| 13 | South Korea | 47.8 | +2.6% | 2.6% | 1.7% |
| 14 | Poland | 46.8 | +23% | 4.5% | 1.6% |
| 15 | Spain | 40.2 | +50% | 2.1% | 1.4% |
SIPRI, Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025 (April 2026). Rounding can mean that displayed shares do not add exactly to totals.
How concentrated is military spending?
The 15 countries in the table spent $2,304 billion in 2025, or 80% of the global total. The top five—the United States, China, Russia, Germany and India—accounted for $1,686 billion, or 58%. Worldwide expenditure was $2,887 billion, up 2.9% in real terms, according to SIPRI’s 27 April 2026 release.
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What changed from 2024?
Among the top 15, Spain recorded the largest real-terms increase, 50%, followed by Germany at 24%, Poland at 23%, and Italy and Ukraine at 20% each. The United States, United Kingdom and Israel were the only countries in this group whose reported spending fell.
The United States remained far ahead, spending about 2.8 times China’s estimated total, but its expenditure fell 7.5% in real terms. SIPRI linked the decrease mainly to reduced financial military assistance funded through US supplemental appropriations. Nan Tian, SIPRI Programme Director for the Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme, said the decline “is likely to be short-lived.” SIPRI attributed statement, 27 April 2026.
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What does “military expenditure” include?
SIPRI’s measure is broader than weapons purchases. It tracks government spending on current military forces and activities, including personnel salaries and benefits, operating costs, equipment and arms procurement, military construction, research and development, and central administration, command and support. SIPRI therefore cautions against treating the total as “arms spending”: armaments are usually only a minority of it. NATO uses a different methodology, so NATO and SIPRI figures for the same member country may not match.
The change column compares 2025 with 2024 in real terms at constant 2024 prices. It should not be read as a change in nominal dollars. The dollar totals and annual percentage changes describe different presentations of the expenditure data.
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No. Spending rank measures financial scale; it does not by itself establish combat capability. These figures do not compare readiness, training, equipment effectiveness, logistics, command performance, alliances or operational outcomes. GDP share offers another perspective—the economic burden of spending—but is not a capability score. For example, Ukraine’s estimated expenditure equaled 40% of GDP, while the United States spent the most in absolute terms.
Independent reader supportYour contribution helps us test, update, and keep practical guides available for everyone.How current is the 2025 ranking?
This is SIPRI’s April 2026 edition, not a permanent ranking. SIPRI updates its military-expenditure database annually and may revise earlier years; the 2026 fact sheet says the dataset supersedes previously published SIPRI figures. The database currently describes a series running from 1949 through 2025. See SIPRI’s military expenditure database and its sources and methods for the latest series and definitions. GDP shares and per-capita series are presented by calendar year, and the GDP shares in this table use IMF 2025 GDP estimates.
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