Top 10 countries with the highest military spending as a share of GDP: Where does India rank?
Global military spending surged 37% from 2015 to 2025. Ukraine has the highest military burden, spending 34% of its GDP on military.
Top 10 Military spending by country GDP 2024-25: India is one of the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for 2.3 per cent of its GDP on military. (Shutterstock) Top 10 Military spending by country GDP list 2024-25: Global military spending has risen over the last decade by 37% from 2015 to 2025, according to the latest study by SIPRI.
In addition, the percentage of the global gross domestic product (GDP) allocated to military expenditures (known as global military burden) rose from 2.3% in 2023 to 2.5% in 2024.
Amid escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, both countries increased their military burdens last year. Ukraine witnessed the highest military burden of 34% of its GDP; meanwhile, Russia, ranked 5th, spent 7.1% of its GDP on the military in 2024.
Even countries in Central and Western Europe, like Poland, witnessed unprecedented rises in their military spending last year; its military spending grew by 31 per cent to $38.0 billion in 2024, representing 4.2 per cent of the country’s GDP.
The world’s 10 largest military spenders in 2024 (Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, April 2025)
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