plate 337 · 2025 data

Military spending topped 2% in 61 countries, up from 38

Countries with military spending of at least 2% of GDP, SIPRI, 149 countries with data, 2015 vs 2025.

Arms and alliances
  1. 1. Ukraine is now the world's biggest arms importer
  2. 2. Russia's share of arms exports fell from 21% to 7%
  3. 3. Poland spends more of its economy on defence than America
  4. 4. China added more nuclear warheads than all other states combined
  5. 5. Algeria outspends all of sub-Saharan Africa on its military
  6. 6. Nepal sends more UN peacekeepers than all five veto powers
  7. 7. China runs the world's largest diplomatic network
  8. 8. SpaceX launches more rockets than the rest of Earth combined
  9. 9. China went from the world's top arms buyer to 21st
  10. 10. Countries with 1,000+ conflict deaths rose from 9 to 15
  11. 11. Military spending topped 2% in 61 countries, up from 38
  12. 12. Türkiye climbed from 29th to 11th among arms exporters
38 → 61

Countries spending at least 2% of GDP on the military, 2015 vs 2025, same 149 countries. 25 crossed the line, 2 fell below it (Angola, Sri Lanka).

20 of 25

Of the countries that crossed 2% are in Europe, led by Latvia (1.1% → 3.6%), Lithuania and Denmark (both 1.1% → over 3%).

5

Joined from outside Europe: Burkina Faso (1.3% → 3.3%), Chad, the Central African Republic, Uruguay and Taiwan.

Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database (2026): military expenditure as a share of GDP, 2025
the numbers & method
Military spending topped 2% in 61 countries, up from 38. Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database (2026): military expenditure as a share of GDP, 2025.
CountryValue (%)
UKR39.56
DZA8.83
ISR7.81
RUS7.50
SAU6.48
AZE6.47
ARM6.09
OMN5.68
KWT4.69
JOR4.56
POL4.50
MLI3.87
LVA3.61
MAR3.54
SSD3.42
EST3.37
BFA3.30
NOR3.28
DNK3.25
BDI3.24
COL3.20
TCD3.19
USA3.12
BHR3.11
BWA3.11
LTU3.08
SGP3.05
GRC2.99
KGZ2.92
PAK2.91
NAM2.77
SRB2.76
MRT2.75
KOR2.60
FIN2.57
LBN2.51
TUN2.49
SWE2.47
IRQ2.45
BLR2.40
GBR2.35
CAF2.33
IND2.30
ROU2.28
URY2.28
DEU2.27
TLS2.25
NLD2.19
VNM2.15
ESP2.13
ECU2.10
TWN2.10
IRN2.09
HUN2.04
ALB2.03
FRA2.03
GIN2.03
SVK2.03
HRV2.02
BEL2.01
BGR2.01
MKD1.97
UGA1.96
AUS1.92
TUR1.91
ITA1.89
MNE1.89
MOZ1.87
TGO1.87
XKX1.85
CZE1.84
GEO1.75
CHN1.72
PRT1.71
GAB1.66
CAN1.63
LSO1.63
CYP1.61
SWZ1.60
SEN1.56
SOM1.54
SVN1.54
CHL1.52
TJK1.47
HND1.46
KHM1.45
JPN1.41
AGO1.40
COD1.38
JAM1.37
SLV1.34
FJI1.33
LKA1.31
PHL1.30
RWA1.29
ZMB1.26
SYC1.24
BOL1.21
TZA1.16
MWI1.15
AUT1.10
NZL1.10
KEN1.07
CMR1.06
BRA1.05
IDN1.04
MYS1.04
THA1.04
BLZ1.00
GUY0.99
NPL0.97
TTO0.94
NGA0.91
GNQ0.90
BEN0.89
GNB0.89
MNG0.88
PRY0.88
LBR0.85
LUX0.85
BGD0.81
PER0.81
DOM0.80
CIV0.77
CHE0.76
MEX0.74
ZAF0.74
BIH0.73
CPV0.66
MDG0.62
EGY0.61
GMB0.57
ARG0.56
MDA0.56
NIC0.56
ZWE0.56
GTM0.52
ETH0.49
GHA0.48
MLT0.45
KAZ0.43
SLE0.37
PNG0.35
IRL0.22
MUS0.15
HTI0.12
CRI0.00
ISL0.00
PAN0.00

Claim types Fact · Estimate

Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Military Expenditure Database, 2026 release: military expenditure by country as a percentage of gross domestic product, calendar years 2015 and 2025; read from the SIPRI database file via the progrss vault (vault rule GUIDELINES §4.11). SIPRI's definition covers armed forces, defence ministries, paramilitary forces judged trained and equipped for military operations, and military space activities; it can differ from NATO's own figures. SIPRI marks some values as estimates or uncertain. Set: the 149 countries with a SIPRI value in both 2015 and 2025. Brunei, Cuba, Myanmar and Sudan were above 2% in 2015 but have no 2025 value and are left out of both counts. Countries at 2.01–2.04% (Belgium, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Guinea, Hungary, Albania, Slovakia) sit close to the line. Map colour: yellow = the 25 countries that crossed 2% between 2015 and 2025; hover shows 2025 share. The 2% line is a round marker, not a judgement of any country's spending. Counts are progrss calculations from SIPRI data. Data: SIPRI, credit SIPRI; non-commercial terms may apply.

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