Germany Defense Spending
Germany spent $114 billion on its military in 2025, fourth in the world and the largest in Europe. SIPRI records a 24 per cent rise on 2024 and a 118 per cent rise over the decade to 2025 — the steepest decade-long increase among the ten largest spenders apart from Poland. Spending reached 2.3 per cent of GDP, above the NATO benchmark it sat well below in 2016, when it was 1.1 per cent.
Since January 1st
Year progress
81.3% of the year
Reading Germany Defense Spending as a spending counter
MoneyPerSecond Editorial·Data last reviewed: September 8, 2026
Germany's annual defense figure blends the regular Ministry of Defence budget with draws from the €100 billion Sondervermögen, a special fund created outside the normal budget process in 2022 specifically to fast-track procurement and help Germany reach NATO's 2%-of-GDP benchmark.
The Zeitenwende (“turning point”) speech given by Chancellor Scholz days after Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine reversed decades of post-Cold War underspending on the Bundeswehr; because the special fund is a fixed pool being drawn down over several years rather than an ongoing budget line, Germany's core annual defense budget will need to rise substantially once the fund is exhausted, expected around 2027-2028, just to maintain the 2% commitment.
Long procurement lead times for submarines, fighter jets, and munitions contracts mean that money allocated from the special fund in one year is often disbursed over several subsequent years, so a given year's reported spending can understate the pipeline of already-committed future outlays.
The German Federal Ministry of Defence and SIPRI both publish figures worth checking against NATO's own annual defense expenditure estimates, which use a standardized methodology across member states. Compare this page with France Defense Spending for Europe's other leading military budget, or with Global Military Spending for NATO Europe's combined share.
Time Breakdown
$3,614.92
per second
$216,894.98
per minute
$13,013,698.63
per hour
$312,328,767.12
per day
$114B
per year
How is this calculated?
// Annual amount
$114B
÷ 31,536,000 seconds/year
// Per second
= $3,614.92/sec
The counter starts from January 1st of the current year and accumulates at a rate of $3,614.92 every second, based on Germany Defense Spending's estimated annual figure of $114B.
Methodology
The annual figure is $114 billion for calendar 2025, at current prices and exchange rates, as SIPRI reports it in table 1 of the April 2026 fact sheet. It is not bracketed, so it is a reported figure rather than a SIPRI reconstruction. Note that the 24 per cent rise SIPRI states is in real terms against constant 2024 dollars, while the $114 billion is at current prices. The per-second rate divides the annual total by 31,536,000 seconds, which smooths a budget that in practice moves in procurement tranches and multi-year commitments.
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Data Sources
SIPRI, Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025
https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/2604_milex_2025.pdfCited figure
Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025 — SIPRI Fact Sheet, table 1 (2026): $114 billion for Calendar year 2025, as reported by the publisher. Retrieved 8 September 2026.
https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2026-04/2604_milex_2025.pdfDisclaimer
Budget figures are based on approved allocations and SIPRI data; actual spending may include supplementary appropriations.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much does Germany spend on defense per second?
At $114 billion in 2025, Germany's military spending works out to roughly $3,615 per second spread evenly across the year.
How does Germany's defense spending compare to other European countries?
Germany is the largest in Europe at $114 billion, ahead of the United Kingdom at $89.0 billion and France at $68.0 billion. It ranked fifth in the world in 2024 and fourth in 2025.