Law in Charts · Business, tax and the economy

Military spending as a share of national income, over time

How has military spending moved relative to national income in nine countries?

% of gross domestic product

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 2000 to 2025. What it counts, how to cite it and the data

At a glance

United States: 3.1% in 2000, 3.1% in 2025.
United Kingdom: 2.4% in 2000, 2.4% in 2025.
Germany: 1.3% in 2000, 2.3% in 2025.
France: 2.1% in 2000, 2.0% in 2025.
India: 2.9% in 2000, 2.3% in 2025.
Brazil: 1.7% in 2000, 1.1% in 2025.
Japan: 0.9% in 2000, 1.4% in 2025.
South Africa: 1.4% in 2000, 0.7% in 2025.
Bulgaria: 2.7% in 2000, 2.0% in 2025.

The countries shown are a selection from different regions and legal traditions, chosen for the length of their data and not for any result.

What it counts

Military expenditure as a share of gross domestic product, as compiled by SIPRI.

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

A rise can follow a war, a new threat or simply slower growth of income. A line shows that something changed, not why.

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, over time [Chart]. Law in Charts. https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/military-spending-trend. 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-trend). 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{militaryspendingtrend2026,
  author = {{TheLawToKnow}},
  title = {Military spending as a share of national income, over time},
  year = {2026},
  howpublished = {Law in Charts},
  url = {https://tools.thelawtoknow.com/law-in-charts/military-spending-trend},
  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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Course: Public International Law

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