The United States spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined

According to recently released figures from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), United States defense spending accounted for nearly 40 percent of the military spending of countries around the world in 2023. U.S. defense spending increased by $55 billion between 2022 and 2023, partly due to additional military aid to support Ukraine in the ongoing conflict. The United States spends more on defense than the next nine countries combined.

SIPRI’s definition of defense spending is broader than the definitions most often used in discussions of United States fiscal policy, and by their calculations the United States will have spent $916 billion on national defense in 2023. SIPRI includes discretionary and mandatory expenditures from the Department of Defense, Department of Energy, Department of State, and the National Intelligence Program. In contrast, the national defense budget function ($820 billion in 2023) excludes State Department expenditures and certain Department of Energy programs. Nevertheless, the SIPRI comparison provides useful insights into the enormous size of US defense spending compared to other countries.

Although the United States spends more on defense than any other country, the Congressional Budget Office predicts that defense spending as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) will decline in the coming years – from 2.9 percent of GDP in 2024 to 2.5 percent in 2034. That is considerably lower than the fifty-year average expenditure on defense of 4.2 percent of GDP.

Defense spending represents a significant portion of the federal budget, and the United States spends much more than other countries. In determining the appropriate level of such expenditure in the future, it will be important to evaluate whether it is being used effectively and how it fits in with other national priorities.

Infographic: The facts about US defense spending

Related: Budget Basics: National Defense