In 2024, the United States spent an estimated ***** U.S. dollars per capita on defence, compared with the NATO average of ***** per head.

This graph shows the defense expenditures of the United States per capita from 1995 to 2024. In 2024, it is estimated that around 2,239 U.S. dollars per capita were spent on military causes by the United States. A ranking of countries with the highest military expenditures can be accessed here.

The average for 2022 based on 145 countries was 1.98 percent. The highest value was in Ukraine: 33.55 percent and the lowest value was in Haiti: 0.07 percent. The indicator is available from 1960 to 2022. Below is a chart for all countries where data are available.

Among EU member states, Denmark had the largest expenditure per capita on defense, spending around 1,265 euros in 2023, ahead of Finland, which spent about 1,037 euros per capita on defense. Denmark spent approximately 465 euros per head more than Germany, the EU country that spent the most on military security in absolute terms in the same year.

The United States led the ranking of the countries with the highest military spending in 2024, with 997 billion U.S. dollars dedicated to the military. That constituted almost 40 percent of the total military spending worldwide that year, which amounted to 2.7 trillion U.S. dollars. This amounted to 3.4 percent of the U.S.'s gross domestic product (GDP), placing the country lower in the ranking of military expenditure as a percentage of GDP, compared to Ukraine, Israel, Algeria, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. China was the second largest military spender, with an estimated 314 billion U.S. dollars spent, with Russia following in third. Defense budgetAccording to the U.S. Congressional Budget Office, the outlays for defense will rise to 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars by 2033. The largest parts of the budget are dedicated to the Departments of the Navy and the Air Force. The budget for the U.S. Air Force for 2024 was nearly 260 billion U.S. dollars.Global military spendingThe value of military spending globally has grown steadily in the past years and reached 2.7 trillion U.S. dollars in 2024. Reasons for this are the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war in 2022, the war in Gaza, as well as increasing tensions in the South China Sea. North America is by far the leading region worldwide in terms of expenditure on the military.

This scatter chart displays military expenditure (% of GDP) against health expenditure per capita (current US$) in Caribbean. The data is about countries.

This scatter chart displays military expenditure (% of GDP) against health expenditure per capita (current US$) in Northern Africa. The data is about countries.

This scatter chart displays military expenditure (% of GDP) against health expenditure per capita (current US$) in Northern America. The data is filtered where the date is 2021. The data is about countries per year.

This statistic illustrates the real defense spending per capita by the United Kingdom (UK) and its allies, from 2009 to 2019. While declining throughout the displayed time period, the defense spending as a percentage of the GDP in the United States exceeds the defense spending of the other countries displayed in the statistic. In 2019, the United States of America spent more than doubled than any other country, with a total of 2,223 U.S. dollars spent per capita.

This scatter chart displays military expenditure (% of GDP) against health expenditure per capita (current US$) in Oceania. The data is about countries.

This data collection, which focuses on military spending and arms transfers, supplies information on 145 developed and developing countries of the world. The first file contains background data for each country, including items such as region, sub-region, alliances (OPEC, NATO, and Warsaw Pact), and OECD and World Bank membership. The second file tabulates annual military expenditures, GNP, central government expenditures, arms imports and exports, and total imports and exports in current and constant dollars for each country from 1973 to 1983. Additional variables detail total population, number of armed forces personnel, number of armed forces personnel per 1000 people, GNP in constant dollars per capita, and military expenditures in constant dollars per capita. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR at https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR08532.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they may make this dataset available in multiple data formats in the future.

As a share of gross domestic product (GDP), Ukraine spent more on its military than any other country in 2024, reaching 35 percent of the country's GDP. The high figure is due to the country being invaded by Russia in February 2022. Israel, that is fighting Hamas in the Gaza war, and Algeria followed behind.Leading military spending countriesIn gross terms, the countries with the highest military spending are the United States, China, and Russia. However, these are countries with large populations and GDPs, and smaller countries usually cannot compete alone, regardless of how much they invest. For this reason, they form alliances such as the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO countries aim to pool two percent of their GDP towards their own militaries and to aid each other in case of war. Regional differencesThe past decade has seen an increase in global military spending. This has not been distributed evenly. That period saw large positive changes in military spending from several Asian countries, including a large increase from China. While this does not reflect the number of active conflicts, it reflects growing tensions in global affairs.

This dataset provides values for MILITARY EXPENDITURE reported in several countries. The data includes current values, previous releases, historical highs and record lows, release frequency, reported unit and currency.

This scatter chart displays health expenditure per capita (current US$) against military expenditure (% of GDP). The data is about countries.

For this study, data-tables of the following authors were compiled:Walter G. Hoffmann, Jörg Beutenmüller, Lutz Koellner,Carol Bielefeld, and Klaus Detlef Tiepelmann future. The sources, as well as the summary table, provide information about the subject area the respective author was in charge with. (A detailed description is as WORD or PDF file available) Hoffman determined a correlation between GNP and military expenditures of countries with different economic and social systems. The author Beutemueller found in his analysis a comparatively high proportion of military expenditure in the social product, because he summarized military expenditures an a portion of war costs, and he related both to the lower reference of the net gross national product (at factor cost). Factual classification of the corresponding data tables in search- and downloadsystem HISTAT(Historical Statistics (www.histat.gesis.org): A. Expenditures on Defence according to Walter G. HoffmannA.1 The structure of public consumption per type of spending according to Hoffmann (1850-1959)A.2 The structure of public spending (public consumption plus public investments) per type of spending according to Hoffmann (1850-1959)A.3 Public consumption in current prices according to Hoffmann (1925-1938)A.4 Public consumption in current prices according to Hoffmann (1850-1959)A.5 Public consumption in million marks (in prices of 1913) according to Hoffmann (1850-1959) B. Military expenditure according to Jörg BeutenmüllerB.1 Military expenditure and their proportion of public spending according to Beutenmüller (1872-1968)B.2 Military expenditure and their proportion of the public spending of the FRG according to Beutenmüller (1951-1968)B.3 Military expenditure and their proportion of the net national product with regard to factor costs according to Beutenmüller (1872-1968) C. Military expenditure in Germany according to the study by Lutz KöllnerC.1 Long series referring to the military expenditure in Germany (1900 - 1980)C.1.1 Proportion of military expenditure of the total public spending in selected years in percent (1872-1962)C.1.2 Military expenditure per capita and per employed person in Germany (1900-1980)C.1.3 Proportion of the military expenditure of the net national product at factor prices in million marks (1900-1978)C.1.4 Education spending of the military (1900-1977)C.1.5 Military expenditure per capita of all soldiers and per capita of the officers in billion marks/ reichsmarks/ deutschmarks (1900-1976)C.1.6 Defence density and intensity (1900-1976)C.1.7 Military expenditure in Germany in billion marks/ reichsmarks/ deutschmarks in current prices (1900-1976)C.1.8 Military expenditure in Germany in percent in current prices (1900-1976) C.2 Other tables for the period before 1945 (von Lutz Köllner)C.2.1 Budget and debts of the German Reich in billion reichsmarks (1933-1945)C.2.2 Germany`s arms expenditure in billion reichsmarks (1932-1939)C.2.3 Public spending and arms expenditure of the German Reich in billion reichsmarks (1932-1939)C.2.4 Increase in national debt in selected states (1914-1950)C.2.5 Public spending in Prussia (1640-1862)C.2.6 Arms expenditure and national income in million reichsmarks according to Blaich (1932-1938) C.3 Military and finances in the Federal Republic of Germany, the NATO states, and the world (by Lutz Köllner)C.3.1 Defence expenditure of the NATO states (1949-1980)C.3.2 Social burdens resulting from the war in the Federal Republic of Germany in million deutschmarks (1949-1956)C.3.3 Public spending per capita in deutschmarks (1952-1976)C.3.4 Overall expenditure and defence spending by the Federal Republic of Germany in billion deutschmarks (1956-1981)C.3.5 Distribution of worldwide military expenditure in percent (1955-1980)C.3.6 The long-term development of the defence budget of the Federal Republic of Germany in billion deutschmarks (1956-1984) D. Arms expenditure in the FRG according to Carola BielfeldtD.1 Defence spending according to different sources in million deutschmarks (1950-1972)D.2 Defence spending in accordance with the NATO criteria in million deutschmarks (1950-1971)D.3 Development of defence spending structure (1950-1971)D.4 Acquisition data for the national economy (1950-1972)D.5 Proportion of defence spending (1950-1971) E. Defence spending in the FRG according to Klaus Tiepelmann and Detlef ZukunftE.1 Development of defence spending in the Federal Republic of Germany according to Tiepelmann and Zukunft (1955-1992). Timeseries are downloadable via the online system HISTAT (www.histat.gesis.org).

This two-part data collection comprises information for military expenditures and transfer of armaments for 142 countries in the period 1966-1975. Part 1 consists of time series data that provide information for national military expenditures, including the yearly value of weapons exports and imports per capita, per soldier, and as a percentage of the gross national product (GNP), as well as the population per million. The country and the year form one unit, so that each country appears ten times. Part 2 data provide additional information about the current values of the total arms exported by each major supplier and the total arms transferred in the period 1964-1974 by the United States, France, United Kingdom, Canada, Poland, China, West Germany, the Soviet Union, and Czechoslovakia. (Source: downloaded from ICPSR 7/13/10)

Please Note: This dataset is part of the historical CISER Data Archive Collection and is also available at ICPSR -- https://doi.org/10.3886/ICPSR07553.v1. We highly recommend using the ICPSR version as they made this dataset available in multiple data formats.

United States US: Military Expenditure: % of GDP data was reported at 3.149 % in 2017. This records a decrease from the previous number of 3.222 % for 2016. United States US: Military Expenditure: % of GDP data is updated yearly, averaging 4.864 % from Sep 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 9.063 % in 1967 and a record low of 2.908 % in 1999. United States US: Military Expenditure: % of GDP data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country). Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.); ; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.; Weighted average; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

This dataset is about countries per year in Burkina Faso. It has 64 rows. It features 4 columns: country, health expenditure per capita, and military expenditure.

In 2025, defense expenditure among all NATO members was 1,423.3 U.S. dollars per capita, the highest figure during this provided time period.

Seychelles registered the highest military expenditure per capita in Africa as of 2022, reaching around 263.3 U.S. dollars. Algeria followed closely, with defense spending at 201.7 U.S. dollars per capita. The North African country had the largest defense spending budget in the continent.