Global military spending reached a new high in 2024, rising for the 10th time in a row amid an escalation of geopolitical tensions, a leading think tank on conflict and defense said on Monday.
Inflation-adjusted spending in 2024 rose by 9.4% to $2.72 trillion, said a new report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
This marked the steepest year-over-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War (1988), SIPRI said.
"World military expenditure rose to $2,718 billion in 2024, meaning that spending has increased every year for a full decade, going up by 37% between 2015 and 2024," it noted.
Military spending increased in all world regions, with particularly rapid growth in both Europe and the Middle East, the report said.
With the war in Ukraine in its third year, military expenditure kept rising across Europe, up by 17% to $693 billion, making it the main contributor to the global increase in 2024. All European countries were increasing their military spending in 2024, except Malta.
The report also pointed out that many countries have also committed to raising military spending, which it said will lead to further global increases in the coming years.
Russia's military expenditure reached an estimated $149 billion in 2024, a 38% increase from 2023 and double the level in 2015, the report found.
Ukraine's spending grew by 2.9% to reach $64.7 billion. At 34% of gross domestic product (GDP), Ukraine had the largest military burden of any country in 2024, the report said.
The top five military spenders – the United States, China, Russia, Germany and India – accounted for 60% of the global total.
Germany's military expenditure increased by 28% to reach $88.5 billion, making it the fourth biggest spender in the world.
SIPRI researcher Lorenzo Scarazzato said that for the first time since reunification, Germany became the biggest military spender in Western Europe.
"The latest policies adopted in Germany and many other European countries suggest that Europe has entered a period of high and increasing military spending that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future."
The U.S. remained unbeaten at the top of the military spending list with $997 billion. It alone accounted for more than a third, or 37%, of global military spending.
China, the world’s second-largest military spender, increased its expenditure by 7% to an estimated $314 billion, marking three decades of consecutive growth.
Total military spending by NATO members amounted to about $1.5 trillion, SIPRI said.
All 32 NATO members increased their spending in 2024, with 18 spending at least 2% of GDP.
European NATO members spent $454 billion in total, representing 30% of total spending across the alliance.
SIPRI researcher Jade Guiberteau Ricard said the increase among European NATO members was driven primarily by the ongoing Russian threat and concerns about possible U.S. disengagement within the alliance.
"It is worth saying that boosting spending alone will not necessarily translate into significantly greater military capability or independence from the U.S. Those are far more complex tasks."
Looking at spending in Türkiye, the report revealed that its military spending jumped by 110% between 2015 and 2024, while registering a 12% increase year-over-year.
Accordingly, its spending reached $25 billion last year, SIPRI data showed.
On the other hand, military expenditure in the Middle East reached an estimated $243 billion in 2024, an increase of 15% from 2023, SIPRI said.
With an estimated spending of $80.3 billion in 2024, Saudi Arabia remained the biggest military spender in the Middle East and the seventh largest globally. Its spending was 1.5% higher than in 2023 but 20% lower than in 2015 when its oil revenues peaked.
Israel's expenditure surged by 65% to $46.5 billion and marked the largest year-over-year increase in Israeli spending since the Six-Day War in 1967, the report said.
Lebanon's spending rose by 58% to $635 million, against the backdrop of incursions by Israel into southern Lebanon during the year and following several years of lower spending due to economic crisis and political turmoil.
However, Iran's expenditure fell by 10% in real terms to $7.9 billion as the impact of sanctions limited its capacity to increase spending.
