Posted on 07/13/2023 8:28:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
In the final year of World War II, the U.S. spent about 38% of its GDP on its military.
When adjusted for inflation, the military budget over those four years of war came to a staggering $4.1 trillion in 2020 dollars.
And as Visual Capitalist's Pallave Rao and Joyce Ma detail below, almost 80 years later, modern day military spending isn’t much of a far cry from World War II budgets.
The top spenders have continued to increase their military capabilities, while war in Ukraine has caused countries in the region to re-evaluate their budgets as well.
In 2022, global military budgets hit an all-time high of $2.2 trillion, according to data released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), the eighth consecutive year of increase. This post looks at the top 40 largest military budgets in the world.
The United States accounts for almost 40% of global military expenditures, with its 2022 spend coming to $877 billion.
Here are the top 40 largest military budgets in the world for 2022 in U.S. dollars:
| Rank | Country | Military Budget (Billions) | % of World Military Spend |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇸 U.S. | $876.9 | 39.0% |
| 2 | 🇨🇳 China | $292.0 | 13.0% |
| 3 | 🇷🇺 Russia | $86.4 | 3.9% |
| 4 | 🇮🇳 India | $81.4 | 3.6% |
| 5 | 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | $75.0 | 3.3% |
| 6 | 🇬🇧 UK | $68.5 | 3.1% |
| 7 | 🇩🇪 Germany | $55.8 | 2.5% |
| 8 | 🇫🇷 France | $53.6 | 2.4% |
| 9 | 🇰🇷 South Korea | $46.4 | 2.1% |
| 10 | 🇯🇵 Japan | $46.0 | 2.1% |
| 11 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | $44.0 | 2.0% |
| 12 | 🇮🇹 Italy | $33.5 | 1.5% |
| 13 | 🇦🇺 Australia | $32.3 | 1.4% |
| 14 | 🇨🇦 Canada | $26.9 | 1.2% |
| 15 | 🇮🇱 Israel | $23.4 | 1.0% |
| 16 | 🇪🇸 Spain | $20.3 | 0.9% |
| 17 | 🇧🇷 Brazil | $20.2 | 0.9% |
| 18 | 🇵🇱 Poland | $16.6 | 0.7% |
| 19 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | $15.6 | 0.7% |
| 20 | 🇶🇦 Qatar | $15.4 | 0.7% |
| 21 | 🇹🇼 Taiwan | $12.5 | 0.6% |
| 22 | 🇸🇬 Singapore | $11.7 | 0.5% |
| 23 | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | $10.6 | 0.5% |
| 24 | 🇵🇰 Pakistan | $10.3 | 0.5% |
| 25 | 🇨🇴 Colombia | $9.9 | 0.4% |
| 26 | 🇩🇿 Algeria | $9.1 | 0.4% |
| 27 | 🇮🇩 Indonesia | $9.0 | 0.4% |
| 28 | 🇲🇽 Mexico | $8.5 | 0.4% |
| 29 | 🇳🇴 Norway | $8.4 | 0.4% |
| 30 | 🇰🇼 Kuwait | $8.2 | 0.4% |
| 31 | 🇬🇷 Greece | $8.1 | 0.4% |
| 32 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | $7.7 | 0.3% |
| 33 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | $6.9 | 0.3% |
| 34 | 🇮🇷 Iran | $6.8 | 0.3% |
| 35 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | $6.1 | 0.3% |
| 36 | 🇴🇲 Oman | $5.8 | 0.3% |
| 37 | 🇹🇭 Thailand | $5.7 | 0.3% |
| 38 | 🇨🇱 Chile | $5.6 | 0.2% |
| 39 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | $5.5 | 0.2% |
| 40 | 🇷🇴 Romania | $5.2 | 0.2% |
China, ranked second in absolute terms, accounts for another 13% of world military expenditure at $292 billion.
Russia, India and Saudi Arabia round out the top five biggest military budgets in 2022. Add in the UK to the mix (#6 rank), and these countries all had military expenditures that made up at least 3% of global spend.
Comparatively, the lowest budgets on the top 40 ranged include Romania at $5.2 billion, Denmark at $5.5 billion, and Chile at $5.6 billion. They each account for just 0.2% of the world’s military budgets in 2022, and of course there are many countries with even smaller spends.
Russia’s position as the third-largest military spender is a recent development, as the country’s military spend had a 9% increase between 2021 and 2022, according to SIPRI estimates.
On the other side of Russia’s invasion, Ukraine was the top 40 military budget with the largest annual increase in 2022, surging nearly six and a half times above its 2021 expenditures.
| Country | % Change (2021-2022) | Rank Change (2021-2022) |
|---|---|---|
| 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 640% | +25 |
| 🇶🇦 Qatar | 27% | +2 |
| 🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia | 16% | +3 |
| 🇧🇪 Belgium | 13% | 0 |
| 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 12% | 0 |
| 🇸🇪 Sweden | 12% | -1 |
| 🇵🇱 Poland | 11% | 0 |
| 🇷🇺 Russia | 9.2% | +2 |
| 🇩🇰 Denmark | 8.8% | +3 |
| 🇪🇸 Spain | 7.3% | -1 |
| 🇳🇴 Norway | 6.2% | 0 |
| 🇮🇳 India | 6.0% | -1 |
| 🇯🇵 Japan | 5.9% | -1 |
| 🇮🇷 Iran | 4.6% | +5 |
| 🇨🇳 China | 4.2% | 0 |
| 🇬🇧 UK | 3.7% | -2 |
| 🇨🇦 Canada | 3.0% | -1 |
| 🇸🇬 Singapore | 2.8% | +1 |
| 🇩🇪 Germany | 2.3% | 0 |
| 🇮🇩 Indonesia | 1.3% | 0 |
| 🇨🇴 Colombia | 1.1% | -1 |
| 🇺🇸 U.S. | 0.7% | 0 |
| 🇫🇷 France | 0.6% | -2 |
| 🇬🇷 Greece | 0.6% | -1 |
| 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 0.4% | -1 |
| 🇹🇼 Taiwan | 0.4% | -1 |
| 🇦🇺 Australia | 0.3% | -1 |
| 🇵🇰 Pakistan | -2.0% | -3 |
| 🇰🇷 South Korea | -2.5% | +1 |
| 🇷🇴 Romania | -2.6% | +1 |
| 🇴🇲 Oman | -3.0% | +1 |
| 🇩🇿 Algeria | -3.7% | -1 |
| 🇮🇱 Israel | -4.2% | -1 |
| 🇮🇹 Italy | -4.5% | -1 |
| 🇨🇱 Chile | -6.2% | -3 |
| 🇧🇷 Brazil | -7.9% | -1 |
| 🇲🇽 Mexico | -9.7% | 0 |
| 🇰🇼 Kuwait | -11% | -4 |
| 🇹🇭 Thailand | -11% | -5 |
| 🇹🇷 Türkiye | -26% | -6 |
Ukraine’s dramatic increase represents the highest single-year jump ever recorded by SIPRI, painting a vivid before-and-after picture of a nation engaged in conflict.
Although no other country comes close in matching Ukraine’s surge in defense spending, Qatar saw a substantial increase of 27% over the last year, marking a continuing trend over the last decade of significantly bolstering its military.
Additionally, Saudi Arabia, along with four European nations (Belgium, the Netherlands, Sweden, and Poland), have registered year-over-year changes of over 10%.
On the flipside, 13 of the nations with the largest military budgets decreased spend from 2021, including top 15 spenders such as South Korea, Italy, and Israel.
The largest drop was seen by Türkiye, with an estimated 26% reduction in military budget. This drop may be linked to Türkiye’s inflation problem, which saw prices rise 72.3% in 2022—effectively decreasing the purchasing power of their currency in relative terms to other nations.
With an ongoing conflict in the region and large financial powerhouses, its no surprise that eight of the top 10 countries with the most significant increases in military spending are located in Europe.
Consequently, European military budgets have reached levels not witnessed since the end of the Cold War.
And amid escalating geopolitical concerns, countries in Asia such as India, Japan, and China have also ramped up their defense spending. This is an indication of simmering global flashpoints such as India and China’s border skirmishes, the longstanding South China Sea territorial conflict, and concerns surrounding Taiwan’s sovereignty.
Looks like NATO is spending 18 or so times what Russia is.
Combine spending of USA+NATO countries + Ukraine.
That would equal $876.9+$68.5+55.8+53.6+33.5+26.9+20.3+15.6+44.0 = $1200 Billion
Russia spends $86.4 Billon.
But Russia is still able to fight and capture territory against a military spending 14 times more?
What is wrong with this scenario?
This should be filtered to display “effective” military spending, or “effectively military spending”.
So much of the American budget has nothing to do with actual warfighting and combat-effectiveness spending.
“”””But Russia is still able to fight and capture territory against a military spending 14 times more?””””
Ukraine isn’t spending 14 times more.
Need to adjust for the unbelievably bloated costs of the Western militaries.
Munitions and equjipment consistently cost an order of magnitude more in the West.
Everything from 7.62 vs .277 Fury, Krasnopol vs Excaliber, T90 vs Abrams, SU-57 vs F35, the Western cost is x10.
US military pay is ~x5 Russian levels.
Yeah the Western stuff may be better (debatable, given the battlefield performance of the Bradleys and Leopards) but not x10 !
Are you still bad with English? I said with entire NATO with USA (14 times BIGGER SPENDING than Russia) backing Ukraine, puny spending Russia has captured territory and holding it.
From what I have seen, every country has wasteful military spending. OK, may be USA is more wasteful than others.
US munitions costs ten times as much, and it is Russia that has the corruption problem ?
I’m not kidding about x10.
AK 7.62 Russian cost supposedly 20 cents per round. AR DOD cost is supposedly 25 cents, so not too bad
But the new 277 Fury high pressure rounds will be an estimated $2 - $4 per round
Fury case is 3 piece since brass can’t take the high chamber pressures - brass tube, aluminum lock washer, stainless steel base which is individually machined !
I saw it, but if you want to know how Russia “is still able to fight and capture territory” while the United States and the other 30 countries of NATO aren’t, it is because Russia is immersed in fighting a war of conquest.
NATO/US isn’t fighting a war so they could hardly be fighting and capturing anything, they are at peace.
Russia invaded and is fighting Ukraine alone. At best Ukraine gets scraps of surplus or outdated equipment from the NATO countries.
NATO isn’t fighting the war.
Russia lost to Ukraine in February and March 2022 and has spent tye past 16 months in long drawn out retreat
NATO isn’t sending its latest weapons to Ukraine.
So your analogy is false
Theft by industrial military complex.
Ruzzia is not fighting NATO. At such point that war between Ruzzia and NATO breaks out it will be a very bad day for Ruzzia.
“Looks like NATO is spending 18 or so times what Russia is.”
And it is more easily able to so, because it is a smaller percentage of their GDP.
“ But Russia is still able to fight and capture territory against a military spending 14 times more?
What is wrong with this scenario?”
1. That NATO spending overwhelmingly does not go into the Ukraine war. The total amount that NATO has provided to the Ukraine is around one year’s worth of Russia’s (pre-war) Military budget.
2. In addition to current year spending, Russia has been expending huge stores out of inventory. Essentially, they have been blowing through their savings, as well as their paycheck. The gigantic Soviet stockpiles that Russia inherited from the Soviet Union, have been fired off at an historic rate of speed. The better half of many commodities (like Artillery shells and cruise missiles) is already gone, and several major combat platforms (like tanks, Artillery, attack helicopters and Close Air Support jets) are nearing the level where remaining inventory will be unable to continue to replace the rate of loss, and sustain the same number of active systems on the battlefield.
3. Russia has been spending more than their Federal Defense Budget, forcing their equivalent of State and local Government to raise and sustain combat units, as well as supposedly “Private” businesses like Wagner PMC and Gazprom - even individual oligarchs (they have actually been tapped pretty hard already.
That’s some kind of wishful dreaming you’ve got going on there. It’s about as realistic as Hitler’s bunker hopes.
Very misleading considering the US spends the most but pays the people doing the work far more. China is way ahead of us if you look at what they spend and the pittance they pay their people.. and that’s the ones that actually get paid.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.