The fastest growing economy in Europe in 2024 was Malta. The small Mediterranean country's gross domestic product grew at five percent in 2024, beating out Montenegro which had a growth rate of almost four percent and the Russian Federation which had a rate of 3.6 percent in the same year. Estonia was the country with the largest negative growth in 2024, as the Baltic country's economy shrank by 0.88 percent compared with 2023, largely as a result of the country's exposure to the economic effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent economic sanctions placed on Russia. Germany, Europe's largest economy, experience economic stagnation with a growth of 0.1 percent. Overall, the EU (which contains 27 European countries) registered a growth rate of one percent and the Eurozone (which contains 20) grew by 0.8 percent.
In 2023, the military spending worldwide amounted to 2.44 trillion U.S. dollars, which was the highest during the period under consideration. Comparatively, global military spending was at 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars in 2001, and at 1.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2010, past the peak of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. The Russia-Ukraine War The Russia-Ukraine War has been a major driver of more recent military spending increases. From 2021 to 2022, the ratio of Ukraine’s military spending to their GDP increased substantially from 3.8 percent to 33.5 percent. By comparison, this ratio increased in Russia from 3.6 percent in 2021 to only 4 percent in 2022. As a result, large amounts of bilateral aid have gone towards Ukraine. While EU institutions have contributed the most in total, the United States has contributed the most military aid towards Ukraine. Spending by nation Globally, the United States had the largest amount of military spending by large in 2023. The United States spent nearly 916 billion U.S. dollars in 2023 towards defense, compared to 296 billion U.S. dollars and 109 billion U.S. dollars spent by China and Russia respectively. As a percentage of GDP, Ukraine spent the most globally, contributing nearly 37 percent of their GDP to defense, followed by Algeria at 8.2 percent and Saudi Arabia at 7.1 percent.
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The fastest growing economy in Europe in 2024 was Malta. The small Mediterranean country's gross domestic product grew at five percent in 2024, beating out Montenegro which had a growth rate of almost four percent and the Russian Federation which had a rate of 3.6 percent in the same year. Estonia was the country with the largest negative growth in 2024, as the Baltic country's economy shrank by 0.88 percent compared with 2023, largely as a result of the country's exposure to the economic effects of Russia's invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent economic sanctions placed on Russia. Germany, Europe's largest economy, experience economic stagnation with a growth of 0.1 percent. Overall, the EU (which contains 27 European countries) registered a growth rate of one percent and the Eurozone (which contains 20) grew by 0.8 percent.