Global Military Spending Continues to Skyrocket

Global military spending hit a record $2.9 trillion in 2025, marking the 11th consecutive year in which spending increased, as rising global insecurity and rearmament drive higher worldwide defense budgets.

The United States, China, and Russia combined accounted for $1.48 trillion last year, representing just over half of global expenditure.

A report published on April 27 by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute shows global defense spending increased 2.9% compared to the previous year, pushing the global "military burden," which represents the share of worldwide GDP devoted to military spending, to 2.5%, its highest level since 2009.

At $954 billion, military spending by the United States was 7.5 percent lower in 2025 than in 2024. The drop was primarily due to the fact that no new financial military assistance for Ukraine was approved, a sharp contrast to the previous three years, when a total of $127 billion was approved.

"The decline in US military expenditure in 2025 is likely to be short-lived," said Nan Tian, Program Director of the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program in the report. "Spending approved by the US Congress for 2026 has risen to over $1 trillion, a substantial increase from 2025, and could rise further to $1.5 trillion in 2027 if President Trump’s latest budget proposal is accepted."