According to the latest data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on global military expenditures in 2025, there has been a significant increase in global military spending in recent years. This increase is mainly driven by Europe, on one hand, and East and Southeast Asia, on the other hand. Other regions of the world have seen their military expenditures remain stable.
Among the top 40 countries in the world in terms of military budget, Ukraine has recorded the largest increase in military spending between 2016 and 2025. Outside of Israel, only European countries have more than doubled their military expenditures over this period.
In Europe, France and Greece have seen the smallest increase in their military spending over the past 10 years. However, the United States has also experienced the second smallest increase in their 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 risen to the fourth position globally, with a defense budget almost twice that of France. Meanwhile, India has surpassed its former colonizer, Ukraine has risen to the seventh global position, and Saudi Arabia to the eighth, ahead of France which is now closely followed by Japan.
The war against Iran has highlighted an important aspect: comparing only military expenditures does not reflect the actual power of different armies. Military spending of Iran is 14 times lower than that of its two combined adversaries. Despite this, the United States and Israel have not succeeded in defeating Tehran or overthrowing a heavily weakened regime.
If we aggregate the military expenditures of European countries, at the level of the European Union or on a broader scale, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Ukraine, and Switzerland, the ranking is significantly different. Although the United States still dominates, Europeans are close behind and, together, they surpass China and Russia by far.
Even without the United States, Europe has the means to counter the aggressions of Vladimir Putin. However, this requires close coordination of European armies, interoperable equipment, and filling the gaps in their accumulated capabilities, which is not yet the case.
