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 global military expenditures in recent years. This increase is mainly driven by Europe on one hand, and East and Southeast Asia on the other. Other regions of the world have seen their military spending remain stagnant.
Among the top 40 countries in the world in terms of military budget, Ukraine has seen the largest increase in its military spending between 2016 and 2025. Apart from Israel, only European countries have more than doubled their military spending over this period.
In Europe, France and Greece have experienced the weakest increase in their military spending over the past 10 years. However, the United States has also had the second weakest increase in military budget among these 40 countries, after Brazil. Iran is the only country where military spending has decreased in the last decade.
In 2025, the United States continues to dominate this ranking by a wide margin, followed by China which clearly surpasses Russia. Germany has now risen to fourth place in the world, with a defense budget almost twice that of France. While India has surpassed its former colonizer, Ukraine has risen to the seventh place globally, and Saudi Arabia to the eighth, ahead of France which is now closely followed by Japan.
However, the war against Iran has highlighted an important aspect: comparing only military expenditures does not reflect the actual power of different armies. Military spending in Iran is 14 times lower than that of its two united adversaries, yet the US and Israel have not been able to defeat Tehran or overthrow a heavily weakened regime.
The salaries of soldiers and the cost of equipment vary considerably from one country to another. The United States, in particular, buys very expensive equipment through their powerful military-industrial complex, which may not necessarily be suitable for current combat conditions, as seen in the war against Iran.
If we aggregate the military spending of European countries, at the level of the European Union or more broadly, including the United Kingdom, Norway, Ukraine, and Switzerland, the ranking is notably different. The United States still dominates, but Europeans closely follow them, and together they far exceed China and Russia.
Even without the United States, Europe has the means to counter Vladimir Putin’s aggressions. However, this requires close coordination of European armies, interoperable equipment, and addressing gaps in their cumulative capabilities, which is not yet the case.
