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The Graphic Truth: Who's spending more/less on defense?

April 24, 2023
Carlos Santamaria
and
Paige Fusco
Heat map showing percentage change in military expenditure (2021-2022), top 40 governments
Paige Fusco

Global military expenditure rose by 3.7% in 2022, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. The rise was driven by increased spending in Europe in response to Russia's war in Ukraine and by some Asian countries, such as Japan, to counter China's growing military muscle.

Ukraine made the biggest increase by far, shelling out seven times as much as it did the year before the Russian invasion. Russia's expenditure, meanwhile, rose nearly 10%. But, oddly enough, some countries actually invested less in defense despite global geopolitical uncertainty and rising threats. This included Turkey, which is suffering an inflation-fueled economic crisis that's eating into the military budget.

We take a look at how defense expenditure changed over the past year across the top 40 biggest spenders.

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