Global Military Spending Reaches 16-Year High as Europe and Asia Drive Surge, SIPRI Report Finds
Why It Matters
With the United States already exceeding $1 trillion in defense spending in 2026 and the Trump administration proposing a $1.5 trillion defense budget for 2027, American taxpayers and national security planners are facing a world that is arming itself at a pace not seen in nearly two decades. The shift has broad implications for U.S. alliances, burden-sharing agreements, and America’s strategic posture across two major theaters.
The findings come as Washington remains engaged in an ongoing conflict with Iran — now entering its third month — at an estimated cost of roughly one billion dollars per day, according to the report.
What Happened
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released its annual Trends in World Military Expenditure report on Monday, revealing that global defense spending reached nearly $2.9 trillion in 2025 — a 2.9% increase from the previous year. The figure represents 2.5% of world GDP, the highest share since 2009.
European defense expenditures surged 14% from 2024 to $864 billion, while Asia-Oceania spending climbed 8.1% to $681 billion. SIPRI researchers noted that European NATO members increased spending faster than at any point since 1953, driven by pressure from the United States to meet alliance burden-sharing commitments and a growing push for European self-reliance.
The United States remains the world’s top military spender at $954 billion in 2025, followed by China at an estimated $336 billion and Russia at approximately $190 billion.
By the Numbers
- $2.9 trillion — total global military spending in 2025, representing 2.5% of world GDP
- $954 billion — U.S. defense spending in 2025, the highest of any nation
- 14% — increase in European defense spending from 2024; NATO members Belgium (+59%), Spain (+50%), and Norway (+49%) led the way
- 7.4% — China’s year-over-year spending increase, its largest single-year jump in the past decade and the 31st consecutive annual rise
- 40% of GDP — Ukraine’s military spending as a share of its economy, the highest of any nation in the world
Key Regional Developments
In Asia, U.S. allies accelerated spending amid growing uncertainty about American security commitments and longstanding regional tensions. Japan increased defense spending by 9.7% to $62.2 billion, the highest share of its GDP devoted to defense since 1958. Taiwan — the democratic, self-governed island that the Chinese Communist Party claims but has never controlled — boosted its military budget 14.2% to $18.2 billion, its largest increase since at least 1988.
“U.S. allies in Asia and Oceania such as Australia, Japan and the Philippines are spending more on their militaries, not only due to long-standing regional tensions but also due to growing uncertainty over U.S. support,” SIPRI senior researcher Diego Lopes da Silva said in the report.
In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia led regional spending at $83.2 billion. Israel spent $48.3 billion, a 4.9% decline from the prior year, attributed in part to the January 2025 ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas in Gaza. Iran’s official figures showed a 5.6% drop, but SIPRI researchers cautioned that off-budget oil revenues and 42% inflation likely mean Tehran’s true military expenditures increased.
Russia devoted 7.5% of its GDP to defense — its highest government spending share ever recorded — as it continued its fourth year of war in Ukraine. SIPRI researcher Lorenzo Scarazzato warned that both Russia and Ukraine are likely to increase spending further in 2026 if the conflict continues.
India’s military spending spiked 8.9% to $92.1 billion, driven in part by tensions with neighboring Pakistan. New Delhi outspent Islamabad by roughly $80 billion, ranking fifth globally.
Zoom Out
The SIPRI data underscores a fundamental realignment in how American allies perceive their own security obligations. The Trump administration’s sustained pressure on NATO partners to meet the 2% GDP spending threshold — and its insistence on equitable burden-sharing — appears to be producing measurable results. Several European allies that long relied on U.S. deterrence are now making generational commitments to their own defense industrial bases.
The report’s overall growth figure of 2.9% is lower than the 9.7% increase recorded in 2024, but SIPRI notes this is largely because the U.S. approved no new direct military assistance to Ukraine in 2025. When U.S. figures are excluded, global defense spending rose 9.2% — suggesting allied nations are absorbing more of the cost of global security. For more on U.S. defense-related funding priorities in Congress, see the Senate GOP budget blueprint laying the path for billions in border and national security spending.
What’s Next
SIPRI researchers project that global military spending will continue rising through 2026 and beyond, citing active conflicts, long-term national defense targets, and broad geopolitical instability. The Trump administration’s proposed $1.5 trillion defense budget for fiscal year 2027 would represent a significant escalation of American military investment, particularly as the Iran conflict continues to draw down resources at roughly a billion dollars per day.
Congress has already cleared more than $1
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