Countries With the Biggest Defense Budgets, Ranked

The US has the world’s most expensive military, spending nearly $1 trillion on defense each year. That’s roughly four times China’s reported defense budget, the next largest.

From spending on nuclear technology to advanced aircraft and warships, the world’s top militaries allocate hundreds of billions of dollars each year to stay ahead.

In some countries, big-ticket items such as naval assets or technologically advanced aircraft or missiles account for the bulk of military spending, while others devote large sums to maintaining large conscription troop systems.

Ultimately, military spending varies by country depending on location and interests, Gian Gentile, a retired US Army colonel and senior historian at RAND, told Business Insider. Some countries prioritize homeland defense while others value overmatch and far-reaching power projection.

“The US spends a lot on more sophisticated, extremely precise weapon systems,” he said.

A military’s budget can be measured either as a total amount or as a share of its country’s GDP, reflecting the burden on its economy. Worldwide, countries spent an average of 2.4% of their GDP on defense in 2024.

Wartime spending as a share of GDP typically rises, putting strain on the civilian economy, said Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies. Ukraine in 2024, for example, devoted over 15% of its GDP to its military, the highest share globally.

Spending statistics help paint a picture of defense priorities, but they don’t always translate into readiness for conflict.

“Readiness is very expensive, and perishable,” Cancian said.

A country’s on-paper investment in its defense systems doesn’t always translate directly into military capability, he added. Training and maintenance are often overlooked in analyses of spending on equipment and technologies.

A particularly significant cost when it comes to technologically advanced aircraft, for instance, is maintenance and sustainment.

Still, looking at military budgets can reveal how much capital each country relies on to defend itself.

Last year, the International Institute for Strategic Studies, a London-based think tank, released its Military Balance report, which included data on nearly every country’s defense budget based on each’s reported 2024 figures.

The report includes each country’s total budget (in US dollars), per-capita figures, and defense budget as a share of GDP. Some countries, such as North Korea, Libya, Syria, Cuba, and Afghanistan, did not publicly report their defense budgets.

These are the 30 countries that spend the most on their military, ranked by the size of their defense budgets.