World military expenditure rose by 9.4 per cent in real terms to $2718 billion in 2024, the highest global total ever recorded by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) and the 10th year of consecutive increases. India, the fifth biggest military spender in the world in 2024, increased its spending to $86.1 billion, up by 1.6 per cent from 2023 and by 42 per cent from 2015.
According to the SIPRI’s report titled ‘Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2024’, the five biggest spenders in 2024 were the United States, China, Russia, Germany and India, which together accounted for 60 per cent of world military spending.
The total military expenditure accounted for 2.5 per cent of the global gross domestic product (GDP) in 2024.
The report states that “for the second year in a row, military expenditure increased in all five of the world’s geographical regions, reflecting heightened geopolitical tensions across the globe.”
In a Monday statement, Xiao Liang, a researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Program, highlighted that “over 100 countries around the world raised their military spending in 2024.”
“It was the highest year-on-year increase since the end of the Cold War.”
According to the report, India, which is one of the world’s largest arms importers, has put in place a policy aimed at reducing its reliance on arms imports. The policy, which earmarks 75 per cent of Indian capital outlays (equivalent to 22 per cent of total military spending) to fund domestic military procurement, has made significant progress over the years, with India now able to produce armoured vehicles, helicopters and submarines. However, it remains reliant on imports for some more advanced systems, such as combat aircraft.
At $997 billion in 2024, US military expenditure was 5.7 per cent higher than in 2023 and 19 per cent higher than in 2015. The USA remained by far the largest spender in the world, allocating 3.2 times more than the second-largest spender, China. The USA accounted for 37 per cent of global military expenditure in 2024 and 66 per cent of spending by North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) members.
In third place was Russia, with an estimated $149 billion in spending. Russia remains at war after launching a full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Rounding out the top five were Germany ($88.5 billion) and India ($86.1 billion).
They were followed by the United Kingdom, Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Poland, Italy, and Australia. The report says that “together, the top 15 spenders in 2024 accounted for 80% of global military spending ($2,185 billion) and for 79% of the total increase in spending over the year. All 15 increased their military spending in 2024.”
“The two largest year-on-year percentage increases among this group were in Israel (+65%) and Russia (+38%), highlighting the effect of major conflicts on spending trends in 2024,” the publication continues. Israel has been engaged in a U.S.-backed military assault on the Gaza Strip—globally condemned as genocide—since October 2023.
“Russia once again significantly increased its military spending, widening the spending gap with Ukraine,” noted SIPRI researcher Diego Lopes da Silva. “Ukraine currently allocates all of its tax revenues to its military. In such a tight fiscal space, it will be challenging for Ukraine to keep increasing its military spending.”
All NATO members boosted military spending last year, which SIPRI researcher Jade Guiberteau Ricard said was “driven mainly by the ongoing Russian threat and concerns about possible U.S. disengagement within the alliance.”
As for the Middle East, SIPRI researcher Zubaida Kari said that “despite widespread expectations that many Middle Eastern countries would increase their military spending in 2024, major rises were limited to Israel and Lebanon.”
In addition to slaughtering at least tens of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza over the past nearly 19 months, Israel has killed thousands of people in Lebanon while allegedly targeting the political and paramilitary group Hezbollah. Kari said that elsewhere in the region, “countries either did not significantly increase spending in response to the war in Gaza or were prevented from doing so by economic constraints.”
