Mapped: World’s Top 40 Largest Military Budgets
In the final year of World War II, the U.S. spent about 38% of its GDP on its military. When adjusted for inflation, the military budget over those four years of war came to a staggering $4.1 trillion in 2020 dollars. Almost 80 years later, modern-day military spending isn’t much of a far cry from World War II budgets. The top spenders have continued to increase their military capabilities, while the war in Ukraine has caused countries in the region to re-evaluate their budgets as well.
In 2022, global military budgets hit an all-time high of $2.2 trillion, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the eighth consecutive year of increase. This post looks at the top 40 largest military budgets in the world.
The Largest Military Budgets in 2022
The United States accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spend coming to $877 billion. Here are the top 40 largest military budgets in the world for 2022 in U.S. dollars:
China ranked second in absolute terms, accounting for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion. Russia, India and Saudi Arabia round out the top five biggest military budgets in 2022. Add the UK to the mix (#6 rank), and these countries all had military expenditures that made up at least 3% of global spending. Comparatively, the lowest budgets in the top 40 ranges include Romania at $5.2 billion, Denmark at $5.5 billion, and Chile at $5.6 billion. They each account for just 0.2% of the world’s military budgets in 2022, and of course, there are many countries with even smaller spending.
Largest Military Budget Increases in 2022
Russia’s position as the third-largest military spender is a recent development, as the country’s military spending had a 9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to SIPRI estimates. On the other side of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was the top 40 military budget with the largest annual increase in 2022, surging nearly six and a half times above its 2021 expenditures.
Ukraine’s dramatic increase represents the highest single-year jump ever recorded by SIPRI, painting a vivid before-and-after picture of a nation engaged in conflict. Although no other country comes close to matching Ukraine’s surge in defence spending, Qatar saw a substantial increase of 27% over the last year, marking a continuing trend over the last decade of significantly bolstering its military. Additionally, Saudi Arabia, along with four European nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland), have registered year-over-year changes of over 10%.
On the flip side, 13 of the nations with the largest military budgets decreased spend from 2021, including the top 15 spenders such as South Korea, Italy, and Israel. The largest drop was seen by Türkiye, with an estimated 26% reduction in the military budget. This drop may be linked to Türkiye’s inflation problem, which saw prices rise 72.3% in 2022—effectively decreasing the purchasing power of their currency in relative terms to other nations.
