In 2024, global military spending reached its highest level in decades

Global military spending reached its lowest point of $1.2 trillion in the late 1990s. Since then, military spending has more than doubled, reaching $2.7 trillion in 2024.

The chart shows a drop in military spending after the Cold War ended in 1989. This freed up resources for public expenditure in other domains, sometimes called the “peace dividend”.

But global military spending surged again in the 2000s, partially driven by US spending for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, reaching $2 trillion by 2010. After stabilizing for a few years, it has risen sharply in recent years, fueled in part by the war in Ukraine.

Despite these increases, military spending as a share of GDP remains lower than in 1988 in most countries, as economies have grown substantially over this period.