An annual report on global military spending shows Ukraine is spending more of its GDP on defense than any other country in the world -- but is still being outgunned by Russia.
The report, released by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on April 28, says Ukraine's military expenditure in 2024 was $64.7 billion, some 34 percent of GDP. But this was less than half of Russia's estimated spending.
SIPRI said Russia's spending was about 7 percent of GDP and rose year-on-year by 38 percent, compared to a Ukrainian increase of just 2.9 percent.
"Ukraine currently allocates all of its tax revenues to its military. In such a tight fiscal space, it will be challenging for Ukraine to keep increasing its military spending," said SIPRI researcher Diego Lopes da Silva.
He said Russia was "widening the spending gap with Ukraine."
How Much Help Does Ukraine Get?
While Ukraine has ramped up defense spending since Russia's full-scale invasion in 2022, it has also relied heavily on support from the United States and European countries.
According to the Kiel Institute of the World Economy, between February 2022 and February 2025, Ukraine received some $65 billion of US military aid, and $64 billion from European countries.
But these figures reflect the strong support the Biden administration gave to Kyiv. Since Donald Trump took office, no new military aid package has been announced.
"The recent pause in US aid raises the pressure on European governments to do more, both in financial and military assistance," Naro Nishikawa, a project lead on Kiel's Ukraine Support Tracker, said on April 15.
How Much Does Europe Spend On Defense?
The Ukraine war also fueled what SIPRI called "unprecedented rises" in defense spending in Europe in 2024.
Germany leapt up to fourth spot in the global defense spending league with an $88.5 billion defense outlay, a 28 percent increase year-on-year. The incoming German Chancellor, Friedrich Merz, has signaled he intends to go further still after taking office next month.
Poland, which has felt strongly threatened by Russia's aggression in Ukraine, pumped up spending by 31 percent. Its defense budget was worth 4.2 percent of GDP, the highest is NATO.
European countries are also under renewed pressure from the Trump administration to spend more on defense. Some US officials have spoken of the need to raise spending to 5 percent of GDP.
This is more than Washington spends, although the United States remains the world's biggest spender in nominal terms, allocating some $997 billion last year.
A Trillion-Dollar Budget
Until recently, the Trump administration was pledging to "trim the fat" at the Pentagon by cutting hundreds of billions of dollars in the coming years amid wider cost-cutting measures across federal government.
But on April 7 it appeared to reverse course, announcing plans for a record trillion-dollar budget.
The US defense budget accounted for 37 percent of total global military spending in 2024.
China was the second-highest spender, with an estimated budget of $314 billion that made up for around half of all military budgets in the Asia and Oceania region.
Russia took third spot. Its defense expenditure had doubled since 2015. SIPRI noted that its spending totals were "opaque" with much information now classified. The real amounts are, SIPRI said, probably higher than its estimates.
Much of the money went to subsidizing "arms producers that were reportedly on the brink of bankruptcy," as well as social support and pay for military personnel.
Iran Cuts Spending
As governments around the world boosted their spending, Iran was an outlier.
It recorded a 10 percent fall in defense expenditure in 2024, even at a time of extreme regional tension involving its armed Middle East proxies in conflicts with Israel.
SIPRI's report puts this down to the impact of high inflation driven by Western economic sanctions.
