Military Expenditure (% of GDP): an Interactive Data Story from Our World in Data
This dataset gives each country’s military expenditure as a percentage of its GDP, from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The share of GDP shows how much of its economy a country devotes to defence, independently of its size.
On this page the dataset is downloaded live from Our World in Data, straight into your browser, and turned into an interactive dashboard and a data story told as a slide deck. Nothing is uploaded to a server and nothing needs installing.
Interactive dashboard and data story
At a glance
| Indicator | Military Expenditure (% of GDP) |
| Unit | % of GDP |
| Coverage | yearly values from 1949 to the latest release |
| Highlighted entities | United States, Russia, China, Israel, Germany |
| OWID chart id | military-spending-as-a-share-of-gdp-sipri |
| Column | share_gdp |
| Story format | Slide deck |
| Source | Our World in Data, CC BY 4.0 |
Why this dataset is told as a slide deck
A few strong messages: who spends the most, who has increased. A slide deck gives each one its own screen.
One finding per screen, answer first. Step through with the arrow keys or the buttons. Datastripes can tell any dataset in eight formats: scrolling article, slide deck, conversation, newspaper front page, timeline, tap-through stories, quiz and bento grid. In automatic mode it picks one from the shape of the data. Here the format is fixed to the one that fits this indicator best. You can see every format side by side in the data story gallery.
Background
During the Cold War both superpowers spent a large share of their economies on defence. US spending peaked during the Korean and Vietnam wars, and the Soviet share was higher still, though its true size is hard to estimate.
After 1991 most countries cut defence spending, the so-called peace dividend. Since Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, and much more after its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022, spending has risen again, especially in Europe, where NATO members have committed to at least 2% of GDP.
How the indicator is measured
SIPRI counts current and capital spending on armed forces, defence ministries, paramilitary forces and military space activities, pensions of military personnel and military aid. Figures are built from official budgets, adjusted where they leave items out.
What to look for in the data
- US spending as a share of GDP is far below its Cold War levels, even though it is the largest in absolute terms.
- Russia’s share has risen sharply since 2022.
- Israel has consistently spent one of the highest shares among developed economies.
- Germany’s share fell for decades after reunification and has started to rise again.
Limits and caveats
- Several countries, including China and Russia, publish incomplete defence budgets; SIPRI’s figures are estimates.
- A rising share can come from a shrinking economy, not only from more spending.
- Spending is an input. It says nothing about the effectiveness of a country’s armed forces.
Who uses military expenditure (% of gdp) data
- Defence and security analysts
- International relations students
- Policy journalists
- Public finance researchers
How to analyze this dataset yourself
- Open the data. Download the CSV from the Our World in Data chart and drop it into Datastripes. It loads in your browser, with no upload.
- Filter the entities. The file has one row per country and year. Filter the
entitycolumn to the countries or regions you care about, or usecode(for examplesipri) to pick out aggregates. - Pick a time window. Sort or filter on the time column to isolate a period, such as the years before and after a policy change.
- Join other indicators. Add a second OWID file, for example GDP or population, and join it on entity and year to look for relations.
- Forecast and simulate. Run a no-code forecast on any series, or build what-if scenarios on top of it.
- Publish a story. Turn your filtered table into a data story in any of the eight formats and embed it on your site with the Datastripes dashboard widget.
Related data stories
- Nuclear Warhead Stockpiles: conversation
- Life Expectancy: timeline
- CO2 Emissions: timeline
- GDP Per Capita (Maddison): newspaper front page
- All data stories in the gallery
Frequently asked questions
What is the NATO 2% target?
A guideline agreed in 2006 and reaffirmed in 2014 that NATO members spend at least 2% of GDP on defence.
Which country spends the most?
In absolute terms, the United States. As a share of GDP, countries at war or in tense regions, such as Ukraine, Israel and some Gulf states, rank highest.
Is the Soviet Union in the data?
SIPRI coverage for the Soviet period is incomplete; Russia’s series is consistent from the 1990s.
Data: Our World in Data, published under CC BY 4.0, downloaded in your browser when you open this page. Datastripes is not affiliated with Our World in Data. Visualisations are generated automatically and may lag behind the latest OWID release by a few days.