Global military spending increased by 2.9% in 2025, while in the United States, this figure sharply decreased due to the reduction of aid to Ukraine.
Global military spending increased by 2.9% in 2025, while in the United States, this figure sharply decreased by 7.5% as President Donald Trump suspended new financial military aid to Ukraine. This was reported by Reuters, citing a report from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). According to the report, military spending in 2025 rose to $2.89 trillion, marking the 11th consecutive year of growth. Meanwhile, the share of spending in global gross domestic product (GDP) reached 2.5% – the highest level since 2009. "Given the scale of current crises and the long-term goals of many states regarding military spending, this growth is likely to continue in 2026 and beyond," the SIPRI report stated. The three largest countries in military spending – the U.S., China, and Russia – accounted for a total of $1.48 trillion, or 51% of global spending. U.S. military spending in 2025 decreased to $954 billion, primarily due to the lack of approval for new financial military aid to Ukraine. Over the previous three years, U.S. funding for Ukraine amounted to $127 billion. Analysts emphasize that the decline in U.S. military spending in 2025 is likely to be temporary. "The spending approved by the U.S. Congress for 2026 has risen to over $1 trillion, which is a significant increase compared to 2025, and may rise even further to $1.5 trillion in 2027," the report stated. The main contribution to the increase in global spending came from a 14% rise in Europe to $864 billion. The increase in spending by European NATO members led to the sharpest annual growth in Central and Western Europe since the end of the Cold War. Global Arms Exports The volume of exports of major arms worldwide from 2021 to 2025 increased by 9.2 percent compared to the previous five-year period (2016-2020). Russia was the only one of the top 10 supplier countries whose arms exports declined. The five largest suppliers during this period – the U.S., France, Russia, Germany, and China – accounted for 70 percent of total arms exports. Meanwhile, Ukraine was the largest recipient of major arms in the world from 2021 to 2025, receiving 9.7 percent of the total global arms imports.
