According to the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on global military spending in 2025, there has been a significant increase in overall military expenditure in recent years. This rise is primarily driven by Europe, on the one hand, and East and Southeast Asia on the other. Meanwhile, military spending in other regions of the world has remained stagnant.
Among the top 40 countries in the world in terms of military budget, Ukraine has seen the largest increase in military expenditure between 2016 and 2025. Additionally, aside from Israel, only European countries have more than doubled their military spending during this period.
In Europe, France and Greece have experienced the smallest increase in military spending over the past 10 years. Similarly, the United States has also had the second smallest increase in military budget among these 40 countries, after Brazil. Iran is the only country where military spending has decreased over the past decade.
In 2025, the United States still dominates this ranking by a large margin, followed by China, which clearly surpasses Russia. Germany has now climbed to fourth place globally, with a defense budget almost twice that of France. India has surpassed its former colonizer, Ukraine is in the seventh global position, and Saudi Arabia is eighth, ahead of France, closely followed by Japan.
The conflict with Iran has highlighted an important aspect: comparing military expenditures alone does not necessarily reflect the true power of different armies. Military spending in Iran is 14 times lower than the combined expenditures of its two adversaries. However, the United States and Israel have not been able to defeat Tehran or overthrow a severely weakened regime.
Military salaries and equipment costs vary significantly from one country to another. The United States, in particular, purchases very expensive equipment through its powerful military-industrial complex, which may not always be suitable for current combat conditions, as seen in the war against Iran.
When aggregating the military expenditures of European countries, at the level of the European Union or a broader scope including the United Kingdom, Norway, Ukraine, and Switzerland, the ranking changes notably. The United States still dominates, but Europeans closely follow, surpassing China and Russia together.
Even without the United States, Europe has the means to counter aggression from Vladimir Putin, but this requires close coordination among European armies, interoperable equipment, and filling gaps in their combined capabilities, which is not yet the case.
