Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: Global military spending hits record high in 2025

The report released on the official website of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) on the 27th showed that global military spending is projected to reach $2.887 trillion by 2025, hitting a new historical high and increasing by 2.9% compared to 2024. The report indicates that by 2025, global military spending as a percentage of GDP will rise to 2.5%, the highest since 2009. SIPRI military expenditure and arms researcher Xiao Liang stated that due to ongoing conflicts, regional turmoil, and geopolitical changes, many countries around the world are expanding their military capabilities on a large scale, driving global military spending to rise again in 2025. He also stated that with multiple crises overlapping and many countries setting long-term military spending growth goals, the upward trend in military spending is expected to continue until 2026 and beyond. In the Asia-Pacific region, total military spending in 2025 amounted to $681 billion, an 8.1% increase from the previous year, marking the largest annual increase since 2009. In particular, Japan's defense spending in 2025 increased by 9.7% to reach $62.2 billion, accounting for 1.4% of GDP, the highest percentage since 1958.