Sunil Kumar Mahala, Writer
The countries of the world are increasing their defense budget or rather military expenditure unprecedentedly. In fact, today military expenditure around the world is increasing rapidly due to many reasons. If we talk about the major reasons here, geopolitical tensions and conflicts like war (Russia-Ukraine war), Israel-Hamas war, South China Sea have inspired countries to spend more on security.
Competition from neighboring countries (such as mutual competition between countries like India, China and Pakistan) is also responsible for this to some extent. These countries are increasing military expenditure in order to maintain their strategic balance. In simple words, when one country buys arms, neighboring countries also start strengthening their armies. This is called arms race.
New technology and modern weapons have also emerged as a major reason. For some time now, there has been huge investment in drones, cyber security, missile defense systems, artificial intelligence based weapons, space defence, etc., as modern wars are now fought not only with soldiers but also with technology. Today, due to terrorism and internal security threats like infiltration, drug trafficking etc., various countries of the world have increased their military expenditure. The ambition to become a global power has also given rise to increased military spending.
The truth is that today powerful countries like China, America and Russia want to increase their influence in world politics by showing their military power. Not only this, today the arms industry is a major part of the economy of many countries. Defense deals also involve employment, exports and technological development. It would not be wrong to say that increasing military expenditure at present is not only a sign of war preparation, but also of security, balance of power, technological edge and political influence, but excessive military expenditure can also increase pressure on education, health and development sectors.
In this sequence, recently there have been reports quoting a reputed news agency that India’s defense expenditure increased by 8.9% and India has become the country with the 5th highest military expenditure. Recent SIPRI report has revealed that global military expenditure has crossed $2,887 billion and India has become the fifth largest military spending country in the world. Data from the report show that India’s military expenditure will increase by 8.9 percent to $92.1 billion in the year 2025.
According to the latest report by Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), global military expenditure is expected to reach $2,887 billion in 2025. The great thing is that this is the 11th consecutive year when global military expenditure has registered an increase. The five highest spending countries include America, China, Russia, Germany and India, which together contribute 58 percent to global spending. Today, America, China, Russia and Germany have reached the forefront in the world among the countries spending the most on military.
The military expenditure of America, Europe, China, Russia and Germany has reached 954, 864, 336, 190 and 114 billion dollars respectively. This has increased the burden on global GDP (Gross Domestic Product). Due to worldwide military expenditure, the burden on global GDP was 2.4% in 2024, which has increased to 2.5% in 2025. The average expenditure on military by governments worldwide was 7% in 2024, which has reduced to 6.9% in 2025.
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