The World's Biggest Military Spenders in 2025
Global military spending reached $2,887 billion in 2025. The US spent $954 billion, more than the next six countries combined. The full top 15 from SIPRI.
The world spent $2,887 billion on its militaries in 2025, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), whose annual figures are the standard reference for defence spending. That was up 2.9% in real terms on 2024, and equal to about 2.5% of global GDP.
| # | Country | Military spending |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸 United States | $954B |
| 2 | 🇨🇳 China | $336B |
| 3 | 🇷🇺 Russia | $190B |
| 4 | 🇩🇪 Germany | $114B |
| 5 | 🇮🇳 India | $92.1B |
| 6 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | $89.0B |
| 7 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | $84.1B |
| 8 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | $83.2B |
| 9 | 🇫🇷 France | $68.0B |
| 10 | 🇯🇵 Japan | $62.2B |
| 11 | 🇮🇱 Israel | $48.3B |
| 12 | 🇮🇹 Italy | $48.1B |
| 13 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $47.8B |
| 14 | 🇵🇱 Poland | $46.8B |
| 15 | 🇪🇸 Spain | $40.2B |
The United States still dominates
At $954 billion, the United States accounted for about a third of all military spending worldwide. That is more than the next six countries on the list combined. US spending actually fell 7.5% in real terms in 2025, the steepest decline of any country in the top 15, but it remains in a category of its own.
China is a clear second at an estimated $336 billion, up 7.4%. SIPRI’s figure is higher than China’s official defence budget because it adds spending it believes sits in other parts of the government’s accounts, such as some research and paramilitary costs. Russia is third with an estimated $190 billion, 7.5% of its GDP.
Together, the top three accounted for just over half of global military spending. The top 15 accounted for about 80%.
Germany jumps to fourth
The biggest movement near the top came from Europe. Germany’s spending rose 24% to $114 billion, lifting it to fourth place, ahead of India and the United Kingdom. It is now the largest military spender in Europe outside Russia. We cover that shift in more detail in Europe’s rearmament in numbers.
Ukraine is seventh at an estimated $84.1 billion, up 20%. That figure is about 40% of Ukraine’s GDP, by far the heaviest burden of any country (see military spending as a share of GDP). It does not include the weapons and other military aid Ukraine receives from abroad.
The fastest risers
Among the countries we track, spending grew fastest in:
- Spain: up 50%, to $40.2 billion
- Indonesia: up 28%, to $15.0 billion
- Germany: up 24%
- Poland: up 23%, to $46.8 billion, or 4.5% of GDP
- Italy and Ukraine: both up 20%
| # | Country | Real change 2024–25 |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇪🇸 Spain | +50% |
| 2 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | +28% |
| 3 | 🇩🇪 Germany | +24% |
| 4 | 🇵🇱 Poland | +23% |
| 5 | 🇮🇹 Italy | +20% |
| 6 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | +20% |
| 7 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | +14% |
| 8 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | +13% |
| 9 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | +11% |
| 10 | 🇯🇵 Japan | +9.7% |
Israel’s spending fell 4.9% to $48.3 billion after two years of steep wartime increases, though at 7.8% of GDP it remains among the highest burdens in the world. Iran’s spending fell 5.6% to $7.4 billion.
Why SIPRI’s figures differ from official budgets
SIPRI uses a consistent definition across all countries, counting military pensions, paramilitary forces in some cases, and military aid, and converting everything to US dollars at market exchange rates. That makes countries comparable, but it means its figures often differ from the budget numbers governments announce. It also does not publish estimates for every country: there is no reliable figure for North Korea, for example.
Market exchange rates also understate how far money goes in countries where wages and equipment are cheaper. A dollar of Chinese or Indian military spending buys considerably more soldiers and hardware than a dollar of American spending, which is one reason raw budgets overstate the gap between them.