The world spent 2.71 trillion $ in the military in 2024, according to new data published today by SIPRI

  • Global military spending reached $2.7 billions, representing a 9.4% increase in 2024 compared to the previous year, according to SIPRI estimates—marking the largest rise in recent history, with a nearly 20% increase in just three years.
  • Over 100 peace organizations of 30 different countries call on governments to reduce military spending and instead address through cooperation and diplomacy the global challenges of our time.

Military approaches are gaining ground in the Middle East, with a 15% increase in military spending; in Europe, with an overall rise of 17%, led by Western Europe, which has increased its military budget by 24%; and in East and Southeast Asia, with increases of 7.5% and 7.8% respectively. NATO countries continue to lead globally, with their 32 members accounting for 55% of total global military spending—amounting to $1.506 trillion.
US military spending grew 5.7% to $997 billion, accounting for 37% of the global total by 2024. Russia, which increased its military spending by 38% in just one year ($149 billion), and Israel, with a 65% rise, are clearly committing to a war economy that supports political projects based on the use of military force.
China has increased its military budget for the thirty-third consecutive year, once again ranking as the second-largest military spender with $314 billion in 2024.

These are some of the key conclusions that can be drawn from the new global military spending data released today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS), together with Centre Delàs of Peace Studies, analyzes the new military spending data and call for a reduction in global military expenditures, as well as for real efforts toward a new security architecture based on common security, disarmament, and international cooperation.

“The commitment to militarization by the major powers, along with international political uncertainty, distances the chances for peace in some of the main armed conflicts and increases the likelihood of opting for military solutions in regions with latent tensions. Furthermore, the arbitrary target of 2% of global GDP for military budgets is now being replaced by 3.5% or even 5%. This is boosting the business prospects of arms companies, and we know three out of four of the leading military industries are based in NATO countries,” analyzes Jordi Calvo, coordinator of Centre Delàs and the Global Campaign on Military Spending (GCOMS).

Military spending drives a militaristic Europe and moves peace further away from the continent.

EU member aggregate military spending reached 370 billion in 2024, the second highest after the US, and reaching a level in 2024 higher than the recorded at the end of the Cold War, with a 17% increase, primarily driven by Central and Eastern European countries. However, four of the five European countries that rank among the top 15 highest spenders are still Western; Germany, in particular, increased its military spending by 28% in 2024, becoming the largest investor in Central and Western Europe for the first time since reunification.

This goes hand in hand with the widespread discourse of European militarism in which the European Union itself is not left behind. In addition to the EU’s direct subsidies for the research, development, production, and acquisition of armaments, which would amount to nearly €1.5 billion in 2024 and €5 billion under the European Peace Facility, the European Commission has facilitated the use of civil programs for military projects, from the environmental LIFE program to transportation and regional funds, while encouraging private financial actors, including those involved in sustainable finance and the European Investment Bank, to invest in arms companies.

“Between the exacerbation of the global arms race and the defense of a contested hegemony, the militarization of the EU also poses a threat to the peace and security of its citizens. The recent plan for an additional €800 billion in military spending over the next four years will, sooner or later, lead to a reduction in public spending on healthcare, pensions, education, or the fight against climate change and its consequences,” warns Laëtitia Sedou, European advocacy coordinator for ENAAT, the European campaign against the arms trade

As military spending and defense initiatives grow, resources that could otherwise address pressing social challenges—such as climate change, public health, and poverty—are diverted towards furthering military capabilities. This shift toward militarization risks exacerbating tensions both within Europe and beyond, fueling instability and undermining efforts toward peaceful conflict resolution and cooperative international relations.

The 2025 GDAMS Appeal calls for an end to this arms race through drastic reductions of military spending.

Our campaign launched an Appeal at the beginning of this GDAMS period which has so far garnered more than 100 endorsements from organizations from 30 different countries all across the world (see the list here).  Together, we call on governments to reduce military spending and instead address through cooperation and diplomacy the global challenges of our time, which require all available resources. The Appeal also calls for efforts aimed at global disarmament, stopping the arms trade and ceasing arms shipments to countries in conflict, demanding governments that they use all existing means to push for a real ceasefire and an end to the genocide in Gaza.

Join us on April 28 for our biggest day of action!
For the occasion we’ve prepared this toolkit with infographics, a press release, materials, and post suggestions in this shared folder.

Earth Day Statement: Defending Earth means demilitarizing

By Pere Brunet, researcher and activist at Centre Delàs and GCOMS.
Originally posted on the GCOMS website here.
Spanish version of this article was published in El Salto.

In front of global warming, resource depredation and the climate crisis, we face an ethical dilemma. If we are aware that the Earth hosts us during our short life and that we have the obligation to respect it, perhaps we could reverse the current ecocidal practices and move toward more democratic and collaborative societies. Otherwise, we know that the short-sighted and militarized business can end up threatening our survival as a species, or at least that of millions of people worldwide.

It’s actually curious. We search for life on other planets while disregarding life on Earth, ignoring human dignity, harming the biosphere, and treating natural resources as if they were limitless.

Defending Earth requires demilitarizing. Because the emissions from the military sector contribute directly to global warming. Because the military security systems guarantee the extraction and supply of oil, gas and natural resources that also worsen the climate crisis. Because we need the funds from military budgets to face the very serious climate crisis that is upon us. Because addressing this crisis should be the top priority of all world governments, along with social spending and far ahead of all kinds of armed disputes and conflicts over power and territory.

The warnings go back a long way. In addition to proclaiming that we should move from weaponry to livingry that takes care of people, Buckminster Fuller published in 1969 a text titled “Operating manual for spaceship Earth”. In it he explained that Earth resembles a spaceship: from outer space it appears as a point of blue light traveling through the darkness of the Universe. And comparing humanity with astronauts, he observed that these should follow three rules: take care of the ship, manage their limited fuel very well and be well matched. Because messing up the ship or getting into a fight can be fatal. His conclusion was that we should know how to manage the limited resources of the planet, seeing that our only salvation as humanity is to cooperate, respecting the planet and leaving behind violence and war.

Indeed, we’re not celebrating Earth Day when we intend to rearm and increase our military budget. To actually celebrate Earth Day would mean:

  1. Being aware of the incredible human and environmental damage that global power networks cause through their predatory, neo-colonial, neocapitalist and militarized practices.
  2. Demilitarizing our minds. Listening to the voices that the official narratives seek to silence, questioning the biased messages we receive, and verifying their truthfulness and authorship.
  3. Detecting which are the real causes of the current problems our planet is suffering from, becoming indignant and denouncing their practices.
  4. Actively working to stop the capitalist excess and come back to the circle of the ecological and natural balance that we should have never exceeded. Learning to downsize in order to live better. Reducing emissions, consumption and weaponry.
  5. Taking care of the planet that hosts us, proclaiming that the actual neo-colonial practices and policies are unsustainable and criminal for the present and future peoples. Demanding a transition to respectful and post-colonial methods.
  6. Demanding urgent and effective policies to decarbonize and leave behind the oil civilization. Supporting a local, community-based, and respectful energy transition. Demanding the control and transparency of the emissions of the entire military system, which far from contributing to the solution, is a central part of the problem and of the environmental crisis.
  7. Proclaiming that it is essential to reduce military budgets. Demilitarizing and disarming. Going from weaponry to livingry. Participating in campaigns like GCOMS, making ourselves heard during the GDAMS days, remembering the warnings that science has made and continues to make with the clear message that we should take back the funds that are currently being allocated to defence, because the Earth needs the money that is being spent on the military.
  8. Listening and heeding the silenced voices that are also coming from feminism, marginalized people and indigenous communities. Wise voices that understand us as part of nature and its harmony, never superior to it. 
  9. Fighting to break the global networks of power that are based on violence and consumption, oligarchies and centers for the dissemination of racist, patriarchal, supremacist and bellicist messages. Using consumption and objection as empowering tools of peoples against the business that feeds on what we buy from them.
  10. Defending that we have to build new geopolitics, based on respect to the limits of the planet and the dignity and rights of people. A people-centered geopolitics: of the people and for the people. A human geopolitics that is based on the resolution of conflicts through negotiation and dialogue. 
  11. Proclaiming and pursuing injustices, crimes against humanity and all the ecocidal and genocidal actions against humanity, the biosphere and the Earth. Defending the imperative need to reduce global military spending in order to take care of the Earth and the life that it hosts. Denouncing those responsible so that fear and shame may, once and for all, change sides.

Investing in Peace: IPB’s Role in Challenging EU Militarization at the European Left’s Summer University

Article from August 2024

The European Left and its foundation transform!europe held their Summer University in Mieres del Camino (Spain) on July 11th, 12th, and 13th. Chloé Meulewaeter, the GCOMS coordinator at the International Peace Bureau (IPB), participated in the plenary titled: “Investing in Peace, not in War! An analysis of the militarization of the EU.

The session was moderated by Marga Ferré, Co-president of transform!europe (Spain), and featured several speakers: Claudia Haydt, Vice-president of the European Left and coordinator of its Peace Working Group (Germany); Gavin Rae, from the Nazprod Foundation (Poland); and Niamh Ní Bhriain, Programme Coordinator on War and Pacification at the Transnational Institute (Ireland).

During the plenary, Chloé Meulewaeter discussed the militarization of the European Union, highlighting how the arms industry lobby influences EU institutions to promote the narrative that “security is the precondition of any sustainability” in order to access the EU’s sustainable finances. Additionally, The Transnational Institute emphasized the urgent need to invest in peace rather than war, advocating for the isolation of Israel by cutting off funding to entities that perpetuate violence, in order to end the conflict in Gaza and promote true security.

Global Day of Action #StopSendingArms to Israel 

On May 2, the Global Day of Action will mobilise a global coalition of arms experts, civil society organisations, climate activists, healthcare workers, faith leaders, journalists, academics, legal professionals, artists and students around the shared goal of calling on all states to halt the transfer of weapons, parts and ammunitions used to fuel atrocity crimes in Gaza.

Continue reading “Global Day of Action #StopSendingArms to Israel “

Stop the War Coalition -Philippines Statement on Global Military Spending

PRESS STATEMENT

APRIL 25, 2024

References: Dj Janier (09336412694), Mercy Angeles (09063677594)

Stop the War Coalition Philippines joins the call to demilitarize as global military spending rises for the ninth consecutive year

Wars and military conflicts devastate entire portions of the planet. According to SIPRI estimates, global military spending climbed by 19% between 2013 and 2022 and has risen annually since 2015. Particularly for 2023, for the ninth year in a row, there has been a 6.8 percent increase in spending in real terms from 2022, with the world spending roughly $2443 billion US dollars. This is apparent in all five regions, with considerable rises in Europe, Asia, Oceania, and the Middle East.

For the Philippines, military spending has been steadily on the rise in recent years with the latest figures showing that we spent USD 3.965 Million or around 35 dollars per capita (source: demilitarize.org). Around 500 million USD in Foreign Military Financing from the United States is earmarked for the country. This is part of the 8 billion USD emergency aid package for Indo-Pacific allies under the Indo-Pacific Supplemental Appropriations Act that was approved by the United States House of Representatives. This in turn was part of an even bigger 95B USD package that will send aid to other US allies like Israel and Ukraine.

Continue reading “Stop the War Coalition -Philippines Statement on Global Military Spending”

UNODA’s Statement on the Global Days of Action on Military Spending

Izumi Nakamitsu, High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, issued the following message on the occasion of the 2024 Global Days of Action on Military Spending.

The figures released today by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) show that global military expenditures rose by 6.8 per cent in real terms to 2,443 billion US dollars in 2023 – a new record high. This amounts to approximately 2.3 per cent of global gross domestic product (GDP) or around 306 US dollars for every person on the planet.

Continue reading “UNODA’s Statement on the Global Days of Action on Military Spending”

Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2023

Published by: Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)

Date: 22 April 2024

Authors: Dr Nan TianDr Diego Lopes da SilvaXiao Liang and Lorenzo Scarazzato

World military expenditure increased for the ninth consecutive year in 2023, reaching a total of $2443 billion. The 6.8 per cent increase in 2023 was the steepest year-on-year rise since 2009 and pushed global spending to the highest level SIPRI has ever recorded. The world military burden—defined as military spending as a percentage of global gross domestic product (GDP)—increased to 2.3 per cent in 2023. Average military expenditure as a share of government expenditure rose by 0.4 percentage points to 6.9 per cent in 2023 and world military spending per person was the highest since 1990, at $306. 

Continue reading “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2023”

War Costs Us The Earth · GDAMS Statement 2024

War Costs Us The Earth · GDAMS Statement 2024

Disarmament now to save people and planet

Humanity is at a crossroads where political decisions on defence budgets will determine the trajectory of the multiple crises in which we are immersed.

Wars and armed conflicts are devastating whole regions of the world. Global military spending has increased by 19 percent between 2013 and 2022 according to SIPRI figures, and has risen every year since 2015. Yet, from Gaza to Ukraine, the DRC, Sudan, Myanmar, or Manipur, this has done nothing to resolve persistent conflicts nor reduce global tensions. Instead, increased military expenditure and intensifying militarism have only increased the volatility of global peace and cooperation. Rising temperatures are modifying climatic patterns in a profound and extreme way. Millions of people are already experiencing the disastrous consequences of climate change and environmental degradation, amplified further by violent conflict. We must act now.These fluctuating weather and climatic patterns have direct repercussions on whether territories can remain habitable as well as on the future of decent and sustainable living conditions for all.

Continue reading “War Costs Us The Earth · GDAMS Statement 2024”

Save the dates for GDAMS 2024: April 12 to May 15

We are witnessing the dramatic consequences of escalating global militarization, evident in the numerous armed conflicts around the world, notably in Gaza and Ukraine, but also in many other conveniently ignored places of the Global South. We are suffering the consequences of a militaristic approach to international relations and global emergencies, imposed by countries of the North, which are at the same time responsible for most of the weapons produced.


Moreover, the environmental impacts -direct and indirect- resulting from these conflicts and militarization further underscore the pressing need for peace.

War is costing us the Earth.

Continue reading “Save the dates for GDAMS 2024: April 12 to May 15”

 Military Spending in 2022 Shows the Precarity of the Shifting Geopolitical Landscape and the Flawed Logic of Militarism 

Press Release – April 24th, 2023

 The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute’s (SIPRI) newest military expenditure data for 2022 shows yet another year of increase in global military spending, up 3.7 percent from 2021 to another all-time high of US$ 2240 billion. With the Russian invasion of Ukraine, increases in military spending in Europe and the Western world were certainly expected; however, with the release of this data an important question must be addressed: does the outbreak of war drive increases in military spending, or rather do the incessant, yearly increases in military spending drive conflict and work? 

While there is certainly no direct or decisive answer to that question, we have to take this year’s SIPRI data in the context of the geopolitical landscape of the past decades. What is crystal clear from this perspective is that constant increases in military spending have not fostered peace or peace processes in ongoing wars and have not prevented the outbreak of new, larger, and increasingly concerning conflicts such as the war in Ukraine. Likewise, increases in military spending are completely unable to address the various security concerns at the forefront of our societies – from the effects of climate change and environmental degradation to protection from future pandemics and growing inequality and food insecurity in many parts of the world. And of course, the threat posed by countries upgrading their nuclear arsenals combined with increased rhetoric around the threat of the use of nuclear weapons and further expansion of illegal nuclear sharing to Belarus (already present in Western Europe under the US nuclear umbrella) puts our entire planet at risk. 

In many other cases, from Saudi Arabia and Iran to Sudan and Burundi, and Japan and China, military expenditure increases have not helped to reduce growing tensions and violence. The United States and the NATO alliance, who together continue to account for the majority of global spending, have in particular been a source of growing global tensions. In the face of recent geopolitical developments, there needs to be an alternative to constant growths in military budgets; there needs to be a resurgence of funding for diplomatic efforts, for the reduction of global tensions, complemented by funding for peace advocacy, peacebuilding, just resolution, and just reconstruction of conflict zones. The current global military expenditure is more than enough to fund not only peace work, but also to address the UN’s sustainable development goals (SDGs), including climate change, poverty, and hunger. 

The world cannot continue on the path we are on. The International Peace Bureau, Global Campaign for Military Spending, and our global network of partners reject the logic of global leaders that preparing for war creates peace, we reject the role of the military-industrial complex in fuelling this continued growth, and we reject the view that there is no alternative. We urge the UN General Assembly to organize a special session on disarmament. We will use the Global Days of Action on Military Spending (GDAMS) from 13 April until 9 May to make our message heard and promote peaceful alternatives to militarism and war. 


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