Recent Trends in World Military Expenditures

World military expenditure totalled $1.8 trillion in 2014, a fall of 0.4 per cent in real terms since 2013, according to figures released by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) in the latest update of its military expenditure database. World military spending, while falling for the third year in a row, has levelled off as reductions in the United States and Western Europe were largely matched by increases in Asia and Oceania, the Middle East, Eastern Europe and Africa.

US military spending fell by 40 bln dollar (in constant 2011 prices) as part of ongoing budget deficit reduction measures; spending has now fallen by 20 per cent since its peak in 2010. The next three highest spenders — China, Russia and Saudi Arabia — have all substantially increased their military expenditures, with Saudi Arabia’s increase of 17 per cent making it the fastest increase of any of the top 15 spenders worldwide. In 2014, for the first time in history, Saudi Arabia has become world's top country in the terms of military spending per capita ($2747 nominal US dollars).

The SIPRI Military Expenditure Database contains consistent time series on the military spending of 171 countries since 1988. Data for each country is shown in the various formats: nominal and real US Dollars military expenditure, expenditure as a shares of country GDP and overall government spending and on the per capita basis. Select the metric on the data card gadget to display the interactive map and country ranking. Choose the country on the map to see the trends on the graph

Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, 1988-2014