Who spends most on the military?
Click any country to see its military spending as a share of its economy (GDP) — a measure of how much it prioritises defence.
Overview
Military spending as a share of GDP shows how much of its economy a country devotes to defence. It ranges from almost nothing to, in wartime, a third or more. This map compares every reporting country.
Key facts
- Most countries spend between 1% and 3% of GDP on their military.
- Countries at war or facing threats spend far more.
- A few, like Costa Rica, have no standing army and spend almost nothing.
Common questions
What does this measure?
A country's total military expenditure expressed as a percentage of its gross domestic product — how large its defence budget is relative to the size of its economy.
Why use share of GDP?
It shows the burden of defence on the economy and lets you compare countries of very different sizes on a like-for-like basis.
Where does the data come from?
The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), compiled via Our World in Data.
Sources & methodology
Data from SIPRI (via Our World in Data), compiled via Our World in Data. Global figures are population-weighted across the countries that report this measure; countries without reliable recent data are shown as “no data”.
Last updated: 3 August 2026.
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