Military Spending
Military Spending by country
Commentary
Notable countries
Ukraine stands out by a wide margin, with military spending equal to 28.851% of GDP, followed by North Korea at 23.256%. The rest of the top 10 is dominated by countries facing conflict or major security pressures, including South Sudan, Myanmar, Syria, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Russia. At the bottom, Iceland reports 0% of GDP, while Monaco, Liechtenstein, Mauritius, Cuba and Ireland are also among the very lowest. A notable surprise is that several European microstates and Ireland sit at the bottom even though Europe also includes the highest spender, Ukraine.
Regional trends
Asia has the highest continental average at 2.773% of GDP, reflecting the presence of several very high-spending countries such as North Korea, Myanmar, Syria, Israel, Saudi Arabia and Oman. Europe is next at 2.043%, lifted by extreme values like Ukraine and Russia but also containing many of the lowest-spending countries, showing wide internal variation. Africa averages 1.561%, with South Sudan and Algeria standing out well above that level, while Oceania (1.441%) and South America (1.377%) are lower overall. North America has the lowest average at 0.7834%.
Data source
The figures come from SIPRI 2024 and IMF WEO 2026, and the unit is military spending as a share of GDP (%). The dataset covers 193 countries. Because this is measured relative to GDP, it shows economic burden rather than absolute military budgets.
Interpretation
Higher values mean a country devotes a larger share of its economy to military spending, while lower values indicate a smaller economic commitment. Since the global mean is 1.847% and the standard deviation is large at 2.9, the distribution is highly uneven and shaped by a small number of extreme cases. High spending can reflect acute security threats or militarization, but it can also imply heavier trade-offs for other public priorities. Low spending may signal a more secure environment or different policy choices, though it does not necessarily mean weak defense in absolute terms.