Military spending 1990–2025 · SIPRI
Annual military spending, shown three ways: as a percentage of GDP, which measures the EFFORT made relative to the country's means; in billions of dollars, which measures absolute CAPABILITY; and as a share of government spending, which measures the PRIORITY given to the armed forces in the state budget. The views rank the world very differently, and confusing them is the leading source of misreading on this subject.
SIPRI (Stockholm International Peace Research Institute), Military Expenditure Database, 1990 to 2025. Amounts are in constant 2024 dollars: inflation and exchange-rate swings are removed, so years can be compared with one another. The share of government spending relates the military budget to total spending by all levels of government, based on IMF data. The scope includes pay, military pensions, equipment purchases, defence research and paramilitary forces; it excludes civilian internal security. Several states publish no consolidated budget: those values are SIPRI estimates. The USSR (1990), Czechoslovakia (1990-1992) and Yugoslavia (1990-1991) appear within their borders of the time, often without data.
As a share of GDP, NATO has set a 2% target that serves as a common benchmark; above 5%, one speaks of a war economy. In dollars, the bands run up to 250 billion and above — a band occupied by two countries, the United States and China.
In 2025, the United States alone spends more than the next six countries combined. Comparing budgets in dollars nonetheless overstates the gap: a soldier or an armoured vehicle does not cost the same everywhere, and purchasing-power-parity estimates noticeably narrow the ranking for China and Russia.