Economy

Interactive: Comparing Military Spend Around the World

Published

1 month ago

June 4, 2023

Varun Jain

Featured Creator

Article/Editing:

Pallavi Rao

Open the large interactive version here

Comparing Military Spend Around the World

One of the easiest ways to identify a nation’s priorities is by tracking its expenditures, and military spend is no different.

Usually spending is measured, and ranked, in absolute amounts. For example, countries around the world collectively spent $2.1 trillion on their militaries in 2021, with the most coming from the U.S. ($800 billion), China ($293 billion), and India ($77 billion).

But these eye-popping figures are best understood in the context of each country’s economy. Using data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Varun Jain has visualized 158 countries’ military expenditures, both as a percentage of their total GDP as well as in average per-capita spend.

Countries’ Military Spend as a Percentage of their Economy

To begin, Jain identified three categories of military expenditure as a percent of GDP, using the five-year (2018‒2022) average for more consistent data:

Military Spend	% of GDP	Countries
High	Above 5%	7
Medium	2‒5%	44
Low	Below 2%	107

Under this categorization, the stand outs are the countries spending an outsized amount of their economic output on military, rather than the highest total spenders in absolute terms.

At the top of the table is Ukraine, which has earmarked a staggering average of 9.46% of its total economic output on defense over the past five years. That’s well ahead of second-place Saudi Arabia, which is slightly above 8%.

In Ukraine’s case, its high ranking shows how quickly priorities can change. From 2018 to 2021, the country spent 3.2-3.8% of its GDP on its military, but the outbreak of war with Russia saw its expenditures jump to one-third of economic output.

Other countries from the Middle East and North Africa follow in this tier, with Oman third at 8.11% and Qatar fourth with 5.88%. Rounding out the top seven high spenders are Algeria, Kuwait, and Israel.

Rank	Country	Military Spend	% of GDP
1	🇺🇦 Ukraine	High	9.46%
2	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	High	8.19%
3	🇴🇲 Oman	High	8.11%
4	🇶🇦 Qatar	High	5.88%
5	🇩🇿 Algeria	High	5.70%
6	🇰🇼 Kuwait	High	5.66%
7	🇮🇱 Israel	High	5.09%
8	🇯🇴 Jordan	Medium	4.81%
9	🇦🇲 Armenia	Medium	4.53%
10	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	Medium	4.53%
11	🇱🇧 Lebanon	Medium	4.01%
12	🇷🇺 Russia	Medium	3.98%
13	🇧🇭 Bahrain	Medium	3.79%
14	🇵🇰 Pakistan	Medium	3.75%
15	🇲🇦 Morocco	Medium	3.72%
16	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	Medium	3.56%
17	🇺🇸 U.S.	Medium	3.48%
18	🇨🇴 Colombia	Medium	3.24%
19	🇬🇷 Greece	Medium	3.15%
20	🇳🇦 Namibia	Medium	3.09%
21	🇧🇳 Brunei	Medium	3.09%
22	🇸🇸 South Sudan	Medium	3.05%
23	🇹🇬 Togo	Medium	3.03%
24	🇲🇱 Mali	Medium	2.90%
25	🇨🇺 Cuba	Medium	2.88%
26	🇸🇬 Singapore	Medium	2.86%
27	🇧🇼 Botswana	Medium	2.86%
28	🇲🇲 Myanmar	Medium	2.76%
29	🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	Medium	2.70%
30	🇮🇶 Iraq	Medium	2.69%
31	🇰🇷 South Korea	Medium	2.69%
32	🇨🇬 Republic of Congo	Medium	2.68%
33	🇹🇩 Chad	Medium	2.66%
34	🇮🇳 India	Medium	2.58%
35	🇹🇳 Tunisia	Medium	2.58%
36	🇪🇨 Ecuador	Medium	2.34%
37	🇮🇷 Iran	Medium	2.32%
38	🇻🇳 Viet Nam	Medium	2.28%
39	🇰🇭 Cambodia	Medium	2.26%
40	🇲🇷 Mauritania	Medium	2.24%
41	🇳🇪 Niger	Medium	2.21%
42	🇧🇮 Burundi	Medium	2.21%
43	🇹🇷 Turkey	Medium	2.19%
44	🇵🇱 Poland	Medium	2.17%
45	🇱🇻 Latvia	Medium	2.14%
46	🇱🇹 Lithuania	Medium	2.13%
47	🇪🇪 Estonia	Medium	2.13%
48	🇬🇧 United Kingdom	Medium	2.12%
49	🇺🇾 Uruguay	Medium	2.11%
50	🇷🇸 Serbia	Medium	2.06%
51	🇺🇬 Uganda	Medium	2.02%
52	🇭🇷 Croatia	Low	1.97%
53	🇦🇺 Australia	Low	1.93%
54	🇨🇱 Chile	Low	1.92%
55	🇫🇷 France	Low	1.91%
56	🇨🇾 Cyprus	Low	1.90%
57	🇷🇴 Romania	Low	1.87%
58	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	Low	1.85%
59	🇸🇿 Eswatini	Low	1.82%
60	🇳🇴 Norway	Low	1.81%
61	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	Low	1.78%
62	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	Low	1.77%
63	🇵🇹 Portugal	Low	1.77%
64	🇹🇼 Taiwan	Low	1.76%
65	🇨🇳 China	Low	1.72%
66	🇬🇪 Georgia	Low	1.71%
67	🇸🇰 Slovakia	Low	1.67%
68	🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	Low	1.65%
69	🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	Low	1.62%
70	🇬🇳 Guinea	Low	1.61%
71	🇫🇮 Finland	Low	1.60%
72	🇸🇳 Senegal	Low	1.58%
73	🇭🇳 Honduras	Low	1.56%
74	🇬🇦 Gabon	Low	1.56%
75	🇲🇿 Mozambique	Low	1.56%
76	🇱🇸 Lesotho	Low	1.56%
77	🇲🇪 Montenegro	Low	1.54%
78	🇫🇯 Fiji	Low	1.54%
79	🇯🇲 Jamaica	Low	1.49%
80	🇦🇴 Angola	Low	1.48%
81	🇮🇹 Italy	Low	1.48%
82	🇭🇺 Hungary	Low	1.48%
83	🇧🇴 Bolivia	Low	1.46%
84	🇸🇨 Seychelles	Low	1.43%
85	🇳🇱 Netherlands	Low	1.41%
86	🇸🇩 Sudan	Low	1.39%
87	🇷🇼 Rwanda	Low	1.39%
88	🇳🇵 Nepal	Low	1.36%
89	🇩🇰 Denmark	Low	1.36%
90	🇦🇱 Albania	Low	1.34%
91	🇪🇸 Spain	Low	1.34%
92	🇹🇭 Thailand	Low	1.33%
93	🇦🇫 Afghanistan	Low	1.33%
94	🇳🇿 New Zealand	Low	1.32%
95	🇨🇦 Canada	Low	1.32%
96	🇩🇪 Germany	Low	1.31%
97	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	Low	1.30%
98	🇧🇷 Brazil	Low	1.29%
99	🇧🇿 Belize	Low	1.28%
100	🇸🇻 El Salvador	Low	1.28%
101	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	Low	1.26%
102	🇿🇲 Zambia	Low	1.25%
103	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	Low	1.24%
104	🇬🇾 Guyana	Low	1.22%
105	🇨🇮 Cote d'Ivoire	Low	1.22%
106	🇪🇬 Egypt	Low	1.20%
107	🇵🇪 Peru	Low	1.20%
108	🇧🇾 Belarus	Low	1.18%
109	🇸🇪 Sweden	Low	1.17%
110	🇰🇪 Kenya	Low	1.13%
111	🇸🇮 Slovenia	Low	1.10%
112	🇹🇱 Timor Leste	Low	1.08%
113	🇹🇿 Tanzania	Low	1.05%
114	🇨🇲 Cameroon	Low	1.04%
115	🇹🇯 Tajikistan	Low	1.03%
116	🇯🇵 Japan	Low	1.03%
117	🇧🇪 Belgium	Low	1.02%
118	🇱🇷 Liberia	Low	1.00%
119	🇲🇾 Malaysia	Low	0.98%
120	🇵🇭 Philippines	Low	0.96%
121	🇵🇾 Paraguay	Low	0.95%
122	🇽🇰 Kosovo	Low	0.95%
123	🇿🇦 South Africa	Low	0.94%
124	🇲🇼 Malawi	Low	0.92%
125	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	Low	0.84%
126	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	Low	0.83%
127	🇦🇹 Austria	Low	0.78%
128	🇬🇲 Gambia	Low	0.76%
129	🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago	Low	0.75%
130	🇮🇩 Indonesia	Low	0.74%
131	🇨🇭 Switzerland	Low	0.73%
132	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	Low	0.71%
133	🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	Low	0.70%
134	🇲🇳 Mongolia	Low	0.69%
135	🇲🇬 Madagascar	Low	0.68%
136	🇨🇩 Dem. Rep. of Congo	Low	0.64%
137	🇳🇬 Nigeria	Low	0.64%
138	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	Low	0.64%
139	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	Low	0.64%
140	🇦🇷 Argentina	Low	0.63%
141	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	Low	0.61%
142	🇲🇽 Mexico	Low	0.61%
143	🇳🇮 Nicaragua	Low	0.60%
144	🇨🇻 Cape Verde	Low	0.54%
145	🇧🇯 Benin	Low	0.54%
146	🇲🇹 Malta	Low	0.48%
147	🇬🇹 Guatemala	Low	0.45%
148	🇬🇭 Ghana	Low	0.43%
149	🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea	Low	0.38%
150	🇲🇩 Moldova	Low	0.36%
151	🇮🇪 Ireland	Low	0.27%
152	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	Low	0.26%
153	🇻🇪 Venezuela	Low	0.20%
154	🇭🇹 Haiti	Low	0.17%
155	🇲🇺 Mauritius	Low	0.16%
156	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	Low	0.00%
157	🇮🇸 Iceland	Low	0.00%
158	🇵🇦 Panama	Low	0.00%

The medium group consists of 44 countries and is led by four nations (Jordan, Armenia, Azerbaijan, and Lebanon) that all spend more than 4% of their GDP on their militaries. Other familiar countries known to have large military budgets, like Russia, Pakistan, the U.S., India and the UK, are also in this category.

The low spend group has a total of 107 countries, but also contains some surprises. For example, China, France, and Germany—all in the top 10 countries by absolute military spend—actually have similar amounts of military spend as a percent of GDP as Georgia, Cyprus, and North Macedonia respectively.

At the bottom of the table are countries with either low military importance, or strange technicalities. For example, Mauritius is one of the countries with the lowest military budgets because it doesn’t officially have a standing military, instead relying on two paramilitary forces (a special mobile force and a Coast Guard).

Similarly, Iceland allocates 0% of its GDP towards military spending. In place of a standing army, the country maintains a specialized peacekeeping force, a substantial Coast Guard, and relies on security alliances within NATO, of which it is a member and provides financial support to.

Ranking Defense Spending Per Capita

While the measure above equalizes military spend on economic strength, per-capita military spending shows how much countries allocate while accounting for population size.

On a per-capita basis (again using a five-year average), Qatar leads the ranks with a per-capita spend of $4,564, well-ahead of Israel at $2,535, and Saudi Arabia at $1,928.

Rank	Country	Per Capita Spend ($)
1	🇶🇦 Qatar	$4,564
2	🇮🇱 Israel	$2,535
3	🇸🇦 Saudi Arabia	$1,928
4	🇸🇬 Singapore	$1,837
5	🇰🇼 Kuwait	$1,815
6	🇺🇸 U.S.	$1,815
7	🇳🇴 Norway	$1,438
8	🇴🇲 Oman	$1,254
9	🇦🇺 Australia	$1,131
10	🇧🇳 Brunei	$959
11	🇬🇧 UK	$913
12	🇰🇷 South Korea	$894
13	🇧🇭 Bahrain	$863
14	🇩🇰 Denmark	$861
15	🇫🇷 France	$811
16	🇫🇮 Finland	$801
17	🇳🇱 Netherlands	$765
18	🇱🇺 Luxembourg	$694
19	🇸🇪 Sweden	$662
20	🇨🇭 Switzerland	$647
21	🇨🇦 Canada	$645
22	🇬🇷 Greece	$629
23	🇩🇪 Germany	$623
24	🇳🇿 New Zealand	$610
25	🇪🇪 Estonia	$535
26	🇹🇼 Taiwan	$495
27	🇮🇹 Italy	$494
28	🇧🇪 Belgium	$487
29	🇷🇺 Russia	$467
30	🇱🇹 Lithuania	$463
31	🇵🇹 Portugal	$417
32	🇱🇻 Latvia	$405
33	🇨🇾 Cyprus	$399
34	🇯🇵 Japan	$398
35	🇪🇸 Spain	$395
36	🇦🇹 Austria	$393
37	🇵🇱 Poland	$359
38	🇺🇾 Uruguay	$354
39	🇸🇰 Slovakia	$334
40	🇱🇧 Lebanon	$334
41	🇸🇮 Slovenia	$302
42	🇺🇦 Ukraine	$302
43	🇭🇷 Croatia	$294
44	🇨🇱 Chile	$292
45	🇷🇴 Romania	$258
46	🇭🇺 Hungary	$248
47	🇮🇪 Ireland	$235
48	🇸🇨 Seychelles	$230
49	🇦🇿 Azerbaijan	$226
50	🇩🇿 Algeria	$219
51	🇦🇲 Armenia	$217
52	🇧🇼 Botswana	$215
53	🇯🇴 Jordan	$207
54	🇹🇷 Turkey	$199
55	🇨🇴 Colombia	$197
56	🇧🇬 Bulgaria	$194
57	🇨🇳 China	$183
58	🇲🇹 Malta	$175
59	🇨🇿 Czech Republic	$175
60	🇮🇷 Iran	$169
61	🇳🇦 Namibia	$159
62	🇮🇶 Iraq	$145
63	🇪🇨 Ecuador	$138
64	🇲🇪 Montenegro	$137
65	🇷🇸 Serbia	$133
66	🇹🇹 Trinidad & Tobago	$131
67	🇬🇦 Gabon	$124
68	🇲🇦 Morocco	$122
69	🇬🇶 Equatorial Guinea	$112
70	🇲🇾 Malaysia	$109
71	🇧🇷 Brazil	$107
72	🇹🇭 Thailand	$97
73	🇬🇾 Guyana	$92
74	🇹🇳 Tunisia	$91
75	🇫🇯 Fiji	$83
76	🇲🇰 North Macedonia	$83
77	🇰🇿 Kazakhstan	$82
78	🇵🇪 Peru	$81
79	🇬🇪 Georgia	$80
80	🇧🇾 Belarus	$80
81	🇯🇲 Jamaica	$77
82	🇦🇱 Albania	$76
83	🇸🇿 Eswatini	$72
84	🇱🇰 Sri Lanka	$69
85	🇦🇷 Argentina	$66
86	🇧🇿 Belize	$60
87	🇲🇽 Mexico	$59
88	🇩🇴 Dominican Republic	$58
89	🇻🇳 Viet Nam	$58
90	🇿🇦 South Africa	$56
91	🇸🇻 El Salvador	$54
92	🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina	$54
93	🇮🇳 India	$53
94	🇨🇬 Republic of Congo	$53
95	🇵🇾 Paraguay	$52
96	🇧🇴 Bolivia	$51
97	🇵🇰 Pakistan	$49
98	🇺🇿 Uzbekistan	$44
99	🇦🇴 Angola	$43
100	🇽🇰 Kosovo	$42
101	🇲🇷 Mauritania	$42
102	🇭🇳 Honduras	$42
103	🇪🇬 Egypt	$41
104	🇰🇭 Cambodia	$36
105	🇲🇲 Myanmar	$35
106	🇵🇭 Philippines	$33
107	🇲🇳 Mongolia	$33
108	🇮🇩 Indonesia	$31
109	🇧🇩 Bangladesh	$27
110	🇹🇱 Timor Leste	$27
111	🇲🇱 Mali	$26
112	🇸🇳 Senegal	$24
113	🇨🇮 Cote d'Ivoire	$23
114	🇹🇬 Togo	$21
115	🇰🇪 Kenya	$21
116	🇰🇬 Kyrgyzstan	$20
117	🇧🇫 Burkina Faso	$20
118	🇬🇳 Guinea	$19
119	🇱🇸 Lesotho	$19
120	🇨🇻 Cape Verde	$19
121	🇬🇹 Guatemala	$19
122	🇹🇩 Chad	$18
123	🇸🇸 South Sudan	$18
124	🇸🇩 Sudan	$18
125	🇺🇬 Uganda	$18
126	🇿🇼 Zimbabwe	$17
127	🇿🇲 Zambia	$16
128	🇲🇺 Mauritius	$16
129	🇨🇲 Cameroon	$16
130	🇳🇵 Nepal	$15
131	🇳🇬 Nigeria	$14
132	🇳🇮 Nicaragua	$12
133	🇬🇼 Guinea-Bissau	$12
134	🇹🇿 Tanzania	$12
135	🇨🇺 Cuba	$11
136	🇷🇼 Rwanda	$11
137	🇲🇩 Moldova	$11
138	🇵🇬 Papua New Guinea	$10
139	🇳🇪 Niger	$10
140	🇹🇯 Tajikistan	$9
141	🇨🇫 Central African Republic	$8
142	🇲🇿 Mozambique	$8
143	🇬🇭 Ghana	$8
144	🇧🇯 Benin	$7
145	🇧🇮 Burundi	$7
146	🇦🇫 Afghanistan	$6
147	🇬🇲 Gambia	$6
148	🇪🇹 Ethiopia	$5
149	🇻🇪 Venezuela	$5
150	🇲🇼 Malawi	$4
151	🇸🇱 Sierra Leone	$3
152	🇲🇬 Madagascar	$3
153	🇨🇩 Dem. Rep. of Congo	$3
154	🇱🇷 Liberia	$3
155	🇭🇹 Haiti	$2
156	🇨🇷 Costa Rica	$0
157	🇮🇸 Iceland	$0
158	🇵🇦 Panama	$0

Measured this way, we get a perspective of how small defense budgets can be per person, even if the total expenditure is large.

For example, India has the fourth-highest total defense expenditure in 2022, but because of its massive population only sets aside $53 per resident for its military, putting it solidly at the bottom third of the per-capita rankings.

Patterns Revealed By Measuring Military Spend

Changing how we look at a country’s military budget can reveal a lot more than just looking at absolute numbers.

For example, the Middle East is the region with the highest spenders on defense as a percentage of their GDP, giving us insight into regional security concerns.

Countries from the medium group of military spending—including parts of Eastern Europe, sub-Saharan Africa, and South Asia—highlight past or recent conflict zones between neighbors, countries with internal strife, or countries wary of a regional aggressor. Ukraine’s average per capita military spend, for example, was just $122.4 from 2018 to 2021. The next year, it jumped nearly 10 times to $1,018.66 per person after Russia’s invasion.

In fact, European military spending saw its sharpest one-year jump in 30 years as a direct result of the war.

Alongside European anxieties, ongoing tension between China and Taiwan has also contributed to increased military spending in Asia and Oceania. Will these budgets continue their dramatic ascent or will they rise evenly alongside their relative economies in 2023?

Data note: For these comparisons, the creator is calculating five-year averages (using data from 2018-2022) for military spending as a percentage of GDP and per-capita military spending for each country. The military expenditure data is pulled from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Data for some countries is missing or may vary significantly from official figures. Countries with up to
two years of missing data had averages calculated on the years available, while countries with three or more years of missing data have been removed from this dataset, including: Djibouti, Eritrea, North Korea, Laos, Libya, Somalia, Syria, Turkmenistan, UAE, and Yemen.

Please see SIPRI’s methodologies page for more details on how they collect their data and create estimates.

This article was published as a part of Visual Capitalist's Creator Program, which features data-driven visuals from some of our favorite Creators around the world.

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China

How Do Chinese Citizens Feel About Other Countries?

What is the Chinese public’s view of world powers? This visual breaks down Chinese sentiment towards other countries.

Published

14 hours ago

July 18, 2023

Avery Koop

Public Opinion: How Chinese Citizens Feel About Other Countries

Tensions over Taiwan, the COVID-19 pandemic, trade, and the war in Ukraine have impacted Chinese sentiment towards other countries.

This visualization uses data from the Center for International Security and Strategy (CISS) at Tsinghua University to rank survey responses from the Chinese public on their attitudes towards countries and regions around the world.

Chinese Sentiment Towards Other Countries in 2023

In the Center’s opinion polls, which surveyed a random sample of more than 2,500 Chinese mainland adults in November 2022, Russia came out significantly ahead.

Just under 60% of respondents held Russia in a favorable view, with 19% seeing the country as “very favorable.” Contrast that to the mere 12% that viewed the U.S. in a positive light.

Here’s a closer look at the data. The percentages refer to the share of respondents that voted for said category.

Country/Region	Very Unfavorable	Somewhat Unfavorable	Neutral	Somewhat Favorable	Very Favorable
🇺🇸 United States	37.4%	21.7%	28.7%	9.2%	3.0%
🇯🇵 Japan	38.4%	19.1%	29.4%	10.7%	2.3%
🇮🇳 India	25.4%	25.2%	41.5%	6.7%	1.3%
🇰🇷 South Korea	17.4%	21.0%	47.6%	11.8%	2.1%
🇪🇺 European Union	9.3%	15.6%	57.6%	14.1%	3.3%
Southeast Asia	7.1%	13.1%	59.5%	16.8%	3.5%
🇷🇺 Russia	3.0%	4.8%	33.7%	39.4%	19.0%

Japan ranked just below the U.S. in terms of overall unfavorability, though a slightly higher share of respondents saw Japan as “very unfavorable” compared to America. This is likely due to both modern tensions in the East China Sea over mutually claimed islands and historical tensions over the Sino-Japanese Wars.

Chinese sentiment towards India was also unfavorable at just over 50%, though notably the country also received the lowest favorability rating at just 8%.

Additional Survey Findings

The survey also found that 39% of Chinese people get their information on international security from Chinese state-run media (mainly through TV), with an additional 19% getting information from government websites and official social accounts. Conversely, only 1.7% get their news from foreign websites and foreign social media, partially due to the Great Firewall.

When asked about different international security issues, the biggest shares of Chinese citizens ranked the following as their top three:

Pandemics (12.9%)
Disputes over territory and territorial waters (12.9%)
China-U.S. relations (12.0%)

The pandemic’s high score reflects the harsher impact COVID-19 had on China. Chinese borders were shut for years and the public faced intense measures to reduce spread.

In terms of other world events, the majority of Chinese people align with a more “Eastern” viewpoint. For example, in regards to the war in Ukraine, the report found that:

“About 80 percent of the respondents believe the U.S. and Western countries should be held most accountable [for the war], while less than ten percent of the respondents argue that Russia is mainly responsible.”– Center for International Security and Strategy, Tsinghua University

Overall, the views of the Chinese public reflect the opposite of those found in many Western countries. They provide an important insight that it is not just the Chinese government holding particular views about the world, but the Chinese public as well.