Military expenditure in Africa totalled $52.1 billion in 2024, which was 3% more than in 2023 and 22% more than in 2015, according to new research from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which also found world military expenditure reached a record $2.7 trillion last year – the steepest year-on-year rise since at least the end of the Cold War.
Giving a breakdown of African military expenditure in a new report released in April, SIPRI said that North African military spending reached $30.2 billion in 2024, up by 8.8% from 2023 and by 43% from 2015.
Algeria and Morocco accounted for 90% of the subregional total. Fuelled by hydrocarbon revenues, Algeria’s spending went up by 12% to $21.8 billion in 2024 and it remained Africa’s largest military spender. Algeria’s military budget accounted for the biggest share of all government expenditure (21%).
After two consecutive annual decreases, Algeria’s rival Morocco increased its military spending by 2.6% in 2024, to $5.5 billion. The increase was mainly due to rising personnel expenditure.
Military expenditure in sub-Saharan Africa totalled $21.9 billion in 2024, down by 3.2% from 2023 and by 13% from 2015.
The overall drop in 2024 was primarily due to falling spending in South Africa, Nigeria and Ethiopia, which are among sub-Saharan Africa’s largest spenders. Military spending by South Africa, the biggest spender in the subregion, fell for the fourth consecutive year, to $2.8 billion, which was 6.3% less than in 2023 and 25% less than in 2015. This reduction aligns with South Africa’s fiscal strategy to prioritise economic growth and social services over military spending, SIPRI said.
Mali, Burkina Faso and Niger have been under military junta rule since coups in 2021, 2022 and 2023 respectively. Taken together, they allocated a total of $2.4 billion to their militaries in 2024. All three have severed security cooperation with France and increased military spending substantially since the military takeovers.
Mali’s military expenditure grew by 38% in the period 2020–24, Burkina Faso’s rose by 108% in 2021–24, and Niger’s went up by 56% in 2022–24. Chad also announced the end of military cooperation with France in 2024 and increased its military spending by 43% over the year, to $558 million. This raised its military burden by 0.9 percentage points—the largest year-on-year increase in burden in Africa—to 3.0% of GDP.
Global defence spending hits all-time high
SIPRI’s research showed a global increase in military expenditure over the last decade. While this trend concerns almost all regions of the world, it is particularly marked in the most powerful economies. In 2024, defence expenditures totalled $2.718 trillion, an increase of 9.4% year on year (37% since 2015). It is the highest year-on-year rise since the end of the Cold War. This amount represents $334 per person, and 2.5% of GDP, an increase from 2.3% in 2023.
The five biggest spenders were the USA, China, Russia, Germany and India. The USA by itself represents 37% of the world’s total defence expenditure, while the top five accounts for 61% and the top 15 for 80%. The latter is also responsible for 79% of the year-on-year increase.
For the second year in a row, military spending grew Africa, the Middle East, Asia and Oceania, Europe, and the Americas. In the Middle East, Saudi Arabia is by far the main spender (number seven worldwide), with $80.3 billion spent last year. Generally speaking, tensions in the region have led to increased military spending. This is highlighted by Israel which spent $46.5 billion in 2024, at its highest since the Six-Day War in 1967. The only exception is Iran, which saw its expenditure decrease by 10% year-on-year.
SIPRI explains “the year-on-year decrease was mainly due to the effects of persistently high inflation on Iranian spending, partly stemming from US economic sanctions on Iran, which have had an impact on oil exports, Iran’s main source of export revenue.”
In Asia and Oceania, military spending has increased every year since 1989. China, the region’s heavyweight (it accounts for half of the zone’s total spending) with its $314 billion of expenditure (+7% year-on-year), has seen its military budget increase every year for the past 30 years, the longest such streak in the world. Taiwan, South Korea and Japan all increased their expenditures as well, amid tensions with Beijing and Pyongyang on the East China Sea and Korean Peninsula.
Military spending in Europe is driven by the full scale invasion of Ukraine by Russia. It increased by 17% year-on-yar and by 87% between 2015 and 2024, to reach a level ($693 billion) higher than what it was at the end of the Cold War. The countries that are at risk of the Russian threat are also those which spend the most. For example Sweden, which joined NATO in 2024, increased its expenditure by 34%.
Concerning Ukraine, the country spent $64.7 billion on defence, accounting for 54% of Kyiv’s government spending. SIPRI points out that in 2024 “all Ukraine’s tax revenues were fully absorbed by its military spending, while all non-military socio-economic spending was funded by foreign aid.” However, the $64.7 billion only represents 43% of what Russia is estimated to have spent ($149 billion). The reason is that “SIPRI includes military aid in the spending estimate of the donor country and not the beneficiary country, which means that $60 billion is not included in the total for Ukraine. If it were included, Ukraine’s military spending would have totalled $125 billion in 2024, which would have made it the fourth biggest spender in the world.”
“The rapid spending increases among European NATO members were driven mainly by the ongoing Russian threat and concerns about possible US disengagement within the alliance,” said Jade Guiberteau Ricard, Researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme. “It is worth saying that boosting spending alone will not necessarily translate into significantly greater military capability or independence from the USA. Those are far more complex tasks.”
The USA and its $997 billion worth of military expenditure unsurprisingly accounting for the near entirety of defence spending in the Americas. However, a focus on trends shows that “military spending in Central America and the Caribbean more than doubled between 2015 and 2024 (+111%).” This evolution is mainly due to Mexico (+39% in 2024 alone), which increased its funding to the Guardia Nacional to fight against criminal gangs and drug trafficking.
Conflicts, catalysts for the increase
The conclusion that can be drawn from this report is that the rising tensions across the world and the increase of armed conflicts is fuelling the rise in military expenditure.
“Over 100 countries around the world raised their military spending in 2024. As governments increasingly prioritise military security, often at the expense of other budget areas, the economic and social trade-offs could have significant effects on societies for years to come,” said Xiao Liang, Researcher with the SIPRI Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.
@defenceWeb, 15th May 2025
