Global Military Spending Reaches $2.9 Trillion In 2025, SIPRI Says

Global military spending reached $2.9 trillion in 2025 for the eleventh consecutive year, according to a report published Monday, April 27, by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).

“Advertising Global rearmament, a tax on future growth While rising military spending can support innovation and short-term activity, in the long term it reduces productive investment and weighs on growth”

Agefi

Le Monde reports that the three main contributors—the United States, China and Russia—accounted for more than half of the total, $1.48 trillion, while the increase rose by 2.9% over the year.

El País

The paper says spending gains in Europe helped offset a decline in U.S. military spending, and it quotes Lorenzo Scarazzato of SIPRI saying the rise came as an AFP-quoted "new year marked by wars and the intensification of tensions."

Le Monde adds that Europe, including Russia and Ukraine, became the main engine of the global increase, with spending there rising 14% to $864 billion.

In Ottawa, Prime Minister Mark Carney told the CANSEC Defence conference in May that Canada would substantially accelerate its defence spending, saying, "Our fiscal framework has already provisioned to achieve four per cent of GDP in total defence spending by the end of this decade, ahead of NATO’s timetable."

Global News says the finance minister’s office refused to release data to back up Carney’s claims, and it quotes a spokesperson for Francois-Philippe Champagne’s office saying they were "not in a position to scoop forthcoming announcements."

Global News

Global News also reports that Carney committed Canada to NATO’s new target of spending five per cent of GDP on defence by 2035 at last year’s NATO Summit in the Netherlands.

The article states that the only information provided after the Spring Economic Statement was tabled in April was that Canada spent $63 billion on defence in the 2025–26 fiscal year, enough to meet NATO’s previous spending target of two per cent of GDP committed to in 2014.

Agefi frames global rearmament as a drag on long-term growth, saying military spending "acts as a kind of tax on future growth" by limiting governments’ ability to fund the climate transition and other priorities.

“The finance minister’s office is refusing to release data to back up recent claims by Prime Minister Mark Carney that Canada will substantially accelerate its defence spending”

Global News

The outlet says military spending accounts for an average of 6.9% of public spending in countries, equivalent to $352 per person worldwide, and it reports that global military spending reached 2.5% of global GDP in 2025, or $2.9 trillion.

Agefi adds that prolonged militarization efforts "widen structural deficits, boost inflationary pressure, and weigh down long-term public debt," while noting that unlike infrastructure, military equipment quickly becomes obsolete.

El País similarly describes a dangerous spiral of military spending, saying Atlantic allies are set to meet next week in Turkey for the NATO annual summit as global military expenditure continues rising for a decade.