European military spending doubled in a decade

Total military expenditure in Europe reached $864 billion in 2025 — 14 per cent more than in 2024, and the highest level SIPRI has ever recorded for the region. Over the decade 2016–25 European military spending doubled, rising 102 per cent.

SIPRI attributes the increase to growing geopolitical instability, principally the Russia–Ukraine war and uncertainty over American security guarantees to European members of NATO. What that produced is visible country by country, and it is not uniform: within the same year one large European spender cut its budget while another raised it by a quarter.

Two per cent, and who is past it

The 29 European members of NATO spent $559 billion between them in 2025. On SIPRI's methodology, 22 of them allocated 2.0 per cent or more of GDP to the military — the target the alliance agreed in 2014 — and two allocated more than 3.5 per cent.

The heaviest military burden in NATO is not carried by any of the large western economies. Poland allocated 4.5 per cent of its GDP to the military in 2025, the highest share in the alliance; Latvia was next at 3.6 per cent. Poland also raised spending 23 per cent year on year, to $46.8 billion, which puts it fourteenth in the world.

Germany, and the hole cut in the debt brake

Germany spent $114 billion in 2025 and became the fourth largest military spender in the world. The 24 per cent rise was its third consecutive year of double-digit growth. At 2.3 per cent of GDP, the German military burden exceeded 2.0 per cent for the first time since 1990.

How that is being paid for is the interesting part. Germany's constitutional debt brake limits the federal deficit to 0.35 per cent of GDP, and has shaped German fiscal policy for over a decade. Among the reforms implemented in 2025, military spending above 1.0 per cent of GDP is now excluded from that limit — meaning the increase can be financed by borrowing. Berlin has pledged to reach 3.5 per cent of GDP by 2029.

A country that spent 1.1 per cent of GDP on its military in 2016 has committed to more than tripling that share within thirteen years, and has amended its central fiscal rule to make it possible. Over 2016–25 German military spending is up 118 per cent.

Britain is the exception

The United Kingdom spent $89.0 billion in 2025, 2.0 per cent less than in 2024 — one of only three countries in the world's top fifteen to record a fall, alongside the United States and Israel. Over the decade UK spending is still up 32 per cent, but the year-on-year direction moved it from fourth place in the world to sixth, overtaken by Germany and Ukraine.

At 2.4 per cent of GDP the UK sits slightly short of the 2.5 per cent it plans to reach by 2027. SIPRI notes how the increase is being funded: through continued cuts to the official development assistance budget. Since further borrowing is not considered sustainable, the stated ambition of 3.0 per cent of GDP in the early 2030s would likely require tax rises or cuts elsewhere.

France, and the countries climbing fastest

France spent $68.0 billion, up 1.5 per cent — the most modest increase among Europe's large spenders, and a 21 per cent rise over the decade against Germany's 118 per cent. Its military burden, 2.0 per cent of GDP, has barely moved from the 1.9 per cent of 2016.

The sharpest movements came from further down the table. Spain raised military spending by 50 per cent in 2025, the largest single-year rise among the top fifteen, reaching $40.2 billion and 2.1 per cent of GDP — up from 1.1 per cent a decade earlier. Italy rose 20 per cent to $48.1 billion.

Ukraine spends 40 per cent of its economy on its military

Ukraine was the seventh largest military spender in the world in 2025, at an estimated $84.1 billion, up 20 per cent on 2024. Over the decade 2016–25 the increase is 1,501 per cent. Its military burden — an estimated 40 per cent of GDP — is the highest of any country SIPRI measures, ahead of Algeria at 8.8 per cent and Israel at 7.8 per cent.

One clarification, because the two are constantly conflated: this is money Ukraine spends itself, drawn from its own budget. It is not military aid received from other countries. SIPRI counts assistance as expenditure by the donor, which is precisely why the American total fell in 2025. A counter labelled "aid to Ukraine" and a counter labelled "Ukraine's military spending" measure different quantities, and neither can be substituted for the other.