The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) said in its latest report that the Russia-Ukraine conflict will boost military spending worldwide in 2024, except for sub-Saharan Africa.
Globally, defense spending is set to surge to $2.46 trillion in 2024, up from $2.24 trillion in 2023.
“Growth also accelerates, with a real increase of 7.4%, outpacing the 6.5% increase in 2023 and 3.5% in 2022. As a result, global defence spending rises to an average of 1.9% of GDP in 2024, compared with 1.6% in 2022 and 1.8% in 2023,” IISS researchers Fenella McGerty and Karl Dewey wrote.
The London-based think tank said in its Military Balance 2025 report released on February 12 that in Europe, nominal spending increased by 50 percent over the past decade, with a marked difference noted within NATO.
Some NATO member states are far exceeding the target of spending 2% of GDP on defense, while others are struggling to meet it.
Notably, Germany currently has the largest defense budget in Europe and the second largest in NATO after the US, having just significantly increased its budget in 2024. The UK has been the largest spender in Europe and the second largest in NATO for the past 30 years.
The report comes as US President Donald Trump is pushing European allies to spend more on defence, proposing a target of 5% of GDP.
The Russia-Ukraine conflict has spurred record defence spending. However, the IISS points out, persistent budget pressures in most European countries pose a challenge to maintaining high levels of spending.
According to IISS data, Europe accounts for less than a third of NATO's total defense spending. The research group said that the mooted commitment by members to spend 3% of GDP on defense spending is "unachievable at this point, given that some countries have used extra-budgetary tools to boost their budgets."
Meanwhile, Russia will spend $461.6 billion on its military in 2024, almost as much as Europe’s entire defense spending in purchasing power parity terms, according to IISS calculations. International dollars are a hypothetical currency, which is the US dollar converted at purchasing power parity (PPP) exchange rates.
The report also said that the Russian military lost more than 4,100 main battle tanks and a quarter of its Su-34 fighter jets during the conflict. However, Russia has restructured and adjusted its forces enough to maintain its military campaign in Ukraine until the end of this year, although the cost of maintaining it will be higher than in 2024.
Meanwhile, Ukraine suffered more personnel losses than Russia. The report argues that Ukraine should improve its personnel management and need continued Western support through 2025 to avoid further defeats on the ground.
In Asia, the team found that China's defense budget increased by 7.4 percent in real terms. Indonesia and Japan's defense spending also increased.
Even if Asian countries' defense budgets increase at a moderate pace, the continent's share of global spending will fall by more than four points, from nearly 26% in 2021 to 21.7% in 2024, the analysis shows.
