In 2025, the military spending worldwide amounted to
2.9
trillion U.S. dollars, which was the highest during the period under consideration. Comparatively, global military spending was at
1.1
trillion U.S. dollars in 2001 and at
1.8
trillion U.S. dollars in 2010, past the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
The Russia-Ukraine War
The Russia-Ukraine War has been a major driver of more recent military spending increases. From 2021 to 2022, the ratio of Ukraine’s military spending to their GDP increased substantially from
3.8
percent to
33.5
percent, reaching
36
percent in 2023. By comparison, this ratio increased in Russia from
3.6
percent in 2021 to only
4
percent in 2022 . As a result, large amounts of bilateral aid have gone towards Ukraine . While EU institutions have contributed the most financial and humanitarian aid, the United States has contributed the most military aid towards Ukraine.
Spending by nation
Globally, the United States had the largest amount of military spending by large in 2025 . The United States spent
954
billion U.S. dollars in 2025 towards defense, compared to
336
billion U.S. dollars and
190
billion U.S. dollars spent by China and Russia, respectively. As a percentage of GDP, Ukraine spent the most globally , contributing nearly 40 percent of its GDP to defense.