For the first time on record, the top 15 military spenders allocated more than $2 trillion to defense in 2025.
Total global defense spending also reached a record $2.6 trillion, signaling a major shift in geopolitical priorities.
Using data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies, this visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Dorothy Neufeld, ranks the 15 countries driving this surge in military spending.
While the U.S. still operates on an entirely different scale, the biggest shift is happening in Europe, where countries are no longer just maintaining military capacity but expanding it significantly.
The $2 Trillion Arms Race: Defense Spending by Country
The U.S. defense budget reached $921 billion in 2025, larger than the combined military spending of China, Russia, Germany, the UK, India, Saudi Arabia, France, and Japan.
Looking ahead, Donald Trump has proposed increasing defense spending to $1.5 trillion by 2027, although this plan has not been enacted. If realized, this would represent roughly 90% higher spending than the Cold War peak in real terms.
China ranked second globally with $251.3 billion in defense spending in 2025. Its share of Asia’s military spending has climbed to 44%, up from 39% in 2017, highlighting its expanding regional influence.
Below is the breakdown of the 15 nations with the largest defense budgets in 2025.
Russia’s defense budget reached $186.2 billion in 2025, rising by more than $40 billion in a single year and equivalent to 7.3% of GDP.
However, spending is expected to decline in 2026, the first drop since the invasion of Ukraine. With a growing deficit, the country faces mounting economic pressure, though higher oil prices have recently provided some relief.
Europe’s Expanding War Chest
With Russia’s ongoing war in Ukraine and pressure from the U.S., European NATO members have committed to spending 3.5% of GDP on defense by 2035.
This would translate to roughly $1.2 trillion by 2035, the largest defense buildup among these countries since the Cold War.
Outside of Russia, Europe holds six of the world’s 15 largest defense budgets, led by Germany ($107.3 billion) and the UK ($94.3 billion). Both countries increased spending by tens of billions between 2024 and 2025.
What was once gradual growth has become a sharp acceleration, making defense one of the fastest-growing spending categories across advanced economies.
To learn more about this topic, check out this graphic on the world’s largest armies in 2026.