Over the past decade (2016–25), as the world has been witnessing various conflicts, global military spending has gone up 41 per cent, even though the year-on-year increase in 2025 was lower than the 9.7 per cent jump witnessed in the previous year.
Amid this surge, India has emerged as the world’s fifth-largest military spender, according to the latest fact sheet by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
Examining the regional and national military expenditure data for 2025 and trends over the decade 2016–25, the SIPRI fact sheet focused on the big spenders—the USA, China, Russia, Germany and India—and the regional trends.
The spending by the top five countries reached $1686 billion, which is equal to the 58 per cent of the global total. India accounted for 3.2 per cent of the global military spending, as New Delhi moved up one spot in the spending rankings, overtaking the United Kingdom to become the world’s fifth-largest spender in 2025, up from sixth in 2024.
The India story
The world’s fifth-largest military spender in 2025, India raised its defence spending by 8.9 per cent to $92.1 billion. The conflict with Pakistan in May 2025, which saw the use of combat aircraft, drones and missiles, pushed the military spending during the year, the report claims.
"Revised capital outlays for military aircraft systems were 50 per cent higher than originally budgeted, while operations and personnel costs for the Indian Air Force were revised upwards by 18 per cent from the original budget," it said.
It is to be noted that the Union government had earlier this month revealed that the Ministry of Defence, with the joint efforts of MoD (Finance), Acquisition Wing, Defence Services and Defence Accounts Department, has fully utilised its capital outlay of ₹1.86 lakh crore for Defence Services provided for the FY 2025-26 at the Revised Estimates stage.
A significant portion of the money was spent on the acquisition of aircraft and Aero engines, followed by land systems, electronic warfare equipment, armaments, ship building, aviation stores, and projectiles, a statement from the defence ministry had said.
In FY 2025–26, the defence ministry approved 109 proposals worth ₹6.81 lakh crore under Acceptance of Necessity (AoN), up from 56 proposals worth ₹1.76 lakh crore in FY 2024–25. It also signed capital procurement contracts for 503 proposals valued at ₹2.28 lakh crore during the year.
This surge in spending is reflected in government data, which shows the defence ministry fully utilised its revised capital outlay of ₹1.86 lakh crore in FY 2025–26, with a major share directed towards acquisitions to support the SIPRI observations.
Where does China stand?
China’s military expenditure has been increasing every year for the past 31 consecutive years—the longest streak of any country in the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. In 2025, the country—the second largest military spender in the world after the US—allocated an estimated $336 billion to its defence forces, which is 1.7 per cent of China’s GDP in the year.
Between 2016 and 2025, the country's military spending has gone up by 62 per cent.
"China’s spending supports the PLA’s goal of completing a comprehensive modernisation of its forces across all military domains by 2035. Developments in 2025 included the testing of prototype J-36 and J-50 sixth-generation combat aircraft, and the H-20 strategic bomber achieving initial operational capability," the SIPRI report said.
Pakistan's military spending
With a total spending of $11.9 billion, Pakistan is the 31st biggest military spender in the world. Pakistan’s military spending grew by 11 per cent to $11.9 billion in 2025, the report said, adding, "The increase was largely due to new orders for aircraft and missiles placed with China in 2025 following the armed conflict with India in May, as well as payments for earlier procurement contracts nearing completion."
US, the biggest of 'em all
The US continued to occupy the top spot as the biggest spender, accounting for a third of all military spending in 2025. However, its share has declined steadily over the years since 2020 and fell by 4.3 percentage points between 2024 and 2025.
According to the report, in 2025 the US spent 2.8 times as much on the military as China—which is the second largest spender—down from 3.2 times in 2024, as China maintained its 12 per cent share of global spending.
Twelve of the top 15 spenders increased their military expenditure in 2025, with only the US, the UK and Israel showing decreases.
Pentagon spent $954 billion on its military in 2025, which was 7.5 per cent lower than in 2024 but still 11 per cent higher than in 2016. The drop from the previous year was mainly due to a sharp cut in financial military aid to other countries, which had earlier come from extra funding beyond the Pentagon’s initial budget. SIPRI counts such financial assistance as part of the donor country’s military spending.
"In 2025, the USA continued to prioritise investment in its nuclear modernisation and advanced conventional weapon programmes in order to maintain US military dominance in the Western Hemisphere and deter China in the Indo-Pacific, which are key goals set out in the latest US national security strategy published in late 2025," the report noted.
