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Military spending as a share of national income

How much of its national income does each country spend on its armed forces?

156 of 156 shown in the list

% of gross domestic product

  1. Ukraine39.6% 2025
  2. Algeria8.8% 2025
  3. Israel7.8% 2025
  4. Russia7.5% 2025
  5. Myanmar6.6% 2024
  6. Azerbaijan6.5% 2025
  7. Qatar6.5% 2022
  8. Saudi Arabia6.5% 2025
  9. Armenia6.1% 2025
  10. Oman5.7% 2025
  11. Kuwait4.7% 2025
  12. Jordan4.6% 2025
  13. Poland4.5% 2025
  14. Mali3.9% 2025
  15. Brunei3.7% 2024
  16. Latvia3.6% 2025
  17. Libya3.6% 2023
  18. Morocco3.5% 2025
  19. Estonia3.4% 2025
  20. South Sudan3.4% 2025
  21. Burkina Faso3.3% 2025
  22. Denmark3.3% 2025
  23. Norway3.3% 2025
  24. Burundi3.2% 2025
  25. Chad3.2% 2025

Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), uri: https://www.sipri.org/databases, Military expenditure (% of GDP), via the World Bank. Data for 2021 to 2025. What it counts, how to cite it and the data

At a glance

  • 156 countries or territories have a figure.
  • The highest is Ukraine at 39.6% (2025) and the lowest is Costa Rica at 0.0% (2025).
  • The middle value (the median) is 1.7%.

What it counts

Military expenditure on armed forces and related activities as a share of gross domestic product, as compiled by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

What it leaves out, and how far to trust a comparison

Definitions of military spending differ, some figures are estimates, and a share of income says nothing about what a country needs for defence or about its obligations under the law of armed conflict. It is not a measure of threat or of peace.

Source

SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), uri: https://www.sipri.org/databases: Military expenditure (% of GDP), via the World Bank, compiled in World Bank, World Development Indicators. Source licence: CC BY 4.0. Data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.

Cite this chart

Free to use in teaching, articles, reports and slides, with credit. Our compilation is licensed CC BY 4.0; the source publishes the underlying data under its own licence, shown below.

Reference (APA style)

TheLawToKnow. (2026). Military spending as a share of national income [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/military-spending-share-of-gdp. Data: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), uri: https://www.sipri.org/databases, Military expenditure (% of GDP), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS (data retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25).

Short credit for slides and websites

Chart: TheLawToKnow, Law in Charts (https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/military-spending-share-of-gdp). Data: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), uri: https://www.sipri.org/databases, via World Bank, World Development Indicators.

BibTeX

@misc{militaryspendingshareofgdp2026,
  author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
  title = {Military spending as a share of national income},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Law in Charts},
  url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/military-spending-share-of-gdp},
  note = {Data: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), uri: https://www.sipri.org/databases, Military expenditure (% of GDP), via the World Bank, https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS. Retrieved 2026-10-23 to 2026-10-25.}
}

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