2023: The Ninth Consecutive Year of Increase in Global Military Expenditure

In 2023, global military expenditure surged for the ninth consecutive year, reaching a total of $2443 billion. This marked an impressive 6.8% increase from the previous year, the highest year-on-year rise since 2009. This sudden spike in spending propelled global military expenditure to an all-time high, as recorded by SIPRI.

The world military burden, defined as military spending as a percentage of global GDP, rose to 2.3% in 2023. Furthermore, the average military expenditure as a share of government expenditure increased by 0.4 percentage points to 6.9% in 2023. Remarkably, world military spending per capita reached its highest level since 1990 at $306.

The primary driver behind this sharp increase in global military spending was the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and rising geopolitical tensions in regions such as Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East. Military expenditure saw a significant rise across all five geographical regions, with substantial increases observed in Europe, Asia and Oceania, and the Middle East.

A recent SIPRI Fact Sheet provides insights into trends in military expenditure for 2023 and the decade spanning from 2014 to 2023. The data used in this report supersedes all previously published military spending data by SIPRI and is sourced from the updated SIPRI Military Expenditure Database.