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World Map of Peace

Military expenditure of Germany

Germany spent 114 billion US dollars on its military in 2025, according to SIPRI, which puts it in 4th place worldwide. How the amount is made up, why the federal budget, NATO and SIPRI give different figures and how it compares with spending on development

Key points at a glance

  • Germany’s military expenditure amounted to 114 billion US dollars in 2025, according to the SIPRI report of April 2026, rank 4 in the world. In real terms that was 24 percent more than the year before.
  • At 2.3 percent of economic output, the share was above 2 percent for the first time since 1990, according to SIPRI. NATO estimates Germany’s share for 2026 at 2.69 percent.
  • The 2026 federal budget contains 82.69 billion euros in budget section 14 and 25.51 billion euros in the Bundeswehr special fund, a total of 108.2 billion euros.
  • For development cooperation, budget section 23 provides around 10.05 billion euros in 2026. Germany’s total official development assistance amounted to 29.1 billion US dollars in 2025, according to the OECD.

In numbers

114 bn

US dollars of military expenditure in 2025

rank 4 worldwide, according to SIPRI

2.69%

of GDP by NATO method

NATO estimate for 2026

108.2 bn

euros in the 2026 federal budget

budget section 14 and special fund

Germany’s military expenditure since 2008Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, April 2026. Billion US dollars at 2024 prices, i.e. adjusted for inflation. In current prices the 2025 figure was 114 billion US dollars.
  • 200845.6
  • 201247.8
  • 201648.9
  • 201956.7
  • 202159.9
  • 202262.5
  • 202370.2
  • 202486.1
  • 2025106.7
Federal budget and NATO figures: 2025 and 2026Sources: German Bundestag, budgets 2025 and 2026 (planned figures); NATO, Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries, July 2026. NATO figures for 2025 and 2026 are estimates.

2025

Budget section 14, Federal Ministry of Defence
62.31 bn euros
Bundeswehr special fund
24.06 bn euros
Total in the federal budget
86.37 bn euros
Defence expenditure by NATO method
99.3 bn euros
Share of GDP by NATO method
2.22 percent

2026

Budget section 14, Federal Ministry of Defence
82.69 bn euros
Bundeswehr special fund
25.51 bn euros
Total in the federal budget
108.2 bn euros
Defence expenditure by NATO method
124.7 bn euros
Share of GDP by NATO method
2.69 percent
Germany, the United Kingdom, France and Poland in 2025Sources: SIPRI Fact Sheet, April 2026, table 1; OECD, preliminary development assistance figures for 2025 of 9 April 2026, table 1. Development assistance is given as a percentage of gross national income.

Military expenditure (SIPRI)

Germany
114 bn US dollars
United Kingdom
89.0 bn US dollars
France
68.0 bn US dollars
Poland
46.8 bn US dollars

Share of GDP (SIPRI)

Germany
2.3 percent
United Kingdom
2.4 percent
France
2.0 percent
Poland
4.5 percent

Development assistance (OECD)

Germany
0.56 percent
United Kingdom
0.43 percent
France
0.42 percent
Poland
0.16 percent
Data basis
SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, April 2026
NATO data
Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries, July 2026
Federal budget
2026 budget, adopted in November 2025
How to read it
SIPRI in US dollars, budget in euros, changes in real terms

How high is Germany’s military expenditure?

Germany’s military expenditure amounted to 114 billion US dollars in 2025, according to the SIPRI report of April 2026. In euros, the SIPRI database shows 100.7 billion euros for the same year. This puts Germany in 4th place worldwide, behind the United States, China and Russia, with 3.9 percent of world military expenditure. A year earlier it was still in 5th place.

In real terms, i.e. adjusted for inflation, spending rose by 24 percent in 2025. According to SIPRI, this was the third year in a row with double-digit growth. Compared with 2016, German military expenditure has more than doubled in real terms; SIPRI reports an increase of 118 percent.

How Germany compares with all other states is shown on the page military expenditure of all countries compared. Important for all figures on this page: SIPRI, NATO and the federal budget do not count the same thing. The fourth section explains where the differences come from.

How has Germany’s spending on the military changed since 2008?

At 2024 prices, German military expenditure was 45.6 billion US dollars in 2008 and 106.7 billion in 2025. That is a real increase of around 134 percent. Until 2014 the amount stayed almost the same; after that it rose slowly and from 2023 sharply: between 2024 and 2025 alone by just over 20 billion US dollars at 2024 prices.

The share of economic output was 1.2 percent in 2008, according to SIPRI, and fell to 1.1 percent by 2015. It has been rising again since 2019, reaching 1.8 percent in 2024 and 2.3 percent in 2025. In the ranking of the SIPRI database, Germany was in 9th place every year from 2010 to 2019.

The Global Peace Index also reflects this development. In the 2026 edition Germany ranks 28th. In the militarisation domain the country deteriorated by 4 percent, and the score for weapons imports rose by 21.4 percent. The report notes that Germany is now above the 2 percent target.

What share of economic output does Germany report to NATO?

According to NATO data from July 2026, Germany’s share was 1.16 percent of economic output in 2014. In 2024, at 2.00 percent, it reached for the first time the 2 percent target the members had agreed in 2014. For 2025 NATO estimates 2.22 percent or 99.3 billion euros, and for 2026 2.69 percent or 124.7 billion euros.

On 25 June 2025 in The Hague, the members agreed on a new target: 5 percent of economic output per year by 2035. At least 3.5 percent is to go to core defence and up to 1.5 percent to related areas such as protecting critical infrastructure and civil preparedness. According to SIPRI, Germany has pledged to reach 3.5 percent as early as 2029.

Across the alliance, core defence expenditure in 2025 was 2.75 percent of economic output according to NATO estimates, and 2.31 percent for Europe and Canada together. At 2.22 percent, Germany was below both figures in 2025. For 2026 NATO expects 2.69 percent for Germany, 2.53 percent for Europe and Canada and 2.86 percent for the alliance as a whole. Some European states belong to no alliance and are permanently neutral.

Why do the budget, NATO and SIPRI give different amounts?

There are three figures for 2025. The federal budget contained 86.37 billion euros, 62.31 billion in budget section 14 and 24.06 billion in the special fund. NATO estimates German defence expenditure for the same year at 99.3 billion euros, while SIPRI arrives at 100.7 billion euros, or 114 billion US dollars.

The budget shows the planned spending of these two items. NATO and SIPRI instead ask what serves the military in total, regardless of where it sits in the budget. By its own definition SIPRI counts salaries and pensions, operations, procurement, research and military aid to other states, but not civil defence or veterans’ benefits.

NATO does not publish a breakdown of which items it counts. SIPRI points out that NATO figures and its own therefore differ considerably in some cases and are hard to verify. A comparison is only meaningful within the same source and the same year.

How do France, the United Kingdom and Poland compare?

The United Kingdom spent 89.0 billion US dollars on its military in 2025, according to SIPRI, 2 percent less than the year before and 2.4 percent of its economic output. The British government plans to reach 2.5 percent by 2027. According to SIPRI, it has also cut its development assistance to fund this.

France reached 68.0 billion US dollars in 2025, 1.5 percent more than in 2024 in real terms and 2.0 percent of economic output. Its spending on equipment rose by 11 percent to 21.1 billion US dollars. Poland spent 46.8 billion US dollars, 23 percent more than the year before. At 4.5 percent of economic output, Poland had the highest share of all NATO members in 2025.

Since 2016, spending has grown very differently: by 21 percent in France, 32 percent in the United Kingdom, 118 percent in Germany and 207 percent in Poland. For 2026 NATO estimates the shares of GDP at 2.22 percent for France, 2.56 percent for the United Kingdom, 2.69 percent for Germany and 4.68 percent for Poland.

How much does Germany spend on development by comparison?

The budget of the development ministry, budget section 23, amounts to around 10.05 billion euros in 2026, after 10.31 billion euros in 2025. For 2027 the government draft provides 9.47 billion euros. Including the special fund, the 2026 defence budget is therefore more than ten times as large as the development budget.

Germany’s official development assistance, which the OECD measures under international rules, is broader than the ministry’s budget. According to preliminary figures, it amounted to 29.1 billion US dollars in 2025, or 0.56 percent of national income, after 0.68 percent in 2024. In real terms it fell by 17.4 percent. This includes 4.85 billion US dollars for hosting refugees in Germany. Because spending by the United States fell even more sharply, Germany was the largest donor for the first time in 2025.

Worldwide, development assistance from OECD donor countries amounted to 174.3 billion US dollars in 2025, or 0.26 percent of their national income. The figures say nothing about what a given expenditure achieves. Why conflicts arise and how they ended in the past is described on the pages Why is there war? and countries without an army. This page gives the figures from SIPRI, NATO, the Bundestag and the OECD and will be updated with the next edition.

SIPRI Fact Sheet, April 2026

At 2.3 per cent of GDP in 2025, Germany’s military burden exceeded 2.0 per cent for the first time since 1990.

Sources

All country pages

Germany in SIPRI and NATO figures since 2014

Germany in SIPRI and NATO figures since 2014
YearSIPRI, bn US dollarsSIPRI, share of GDPNATO, bn eurosNATO, share of GDP
201444.71.1%34.71.16%
201538.21.1%35.91.16%
201639.91.1%37.61.18%
201742.61.1%40.31.21%
201846.51.1%42.11.23%
201949.11.2%46.91.32%
202053.41.4%51.41.49%
202156.51.3%52.41.43%
202256.11.3%58.31.46%
202368.61.5%67.61.60%
202486.11.8%86.62.00%
20251142.3%99.3*2.22%*
2026not yet availablenot yet available124.7*2.69%*

Sources: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, April 2026, in current US dollars; NATO, Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2026), July 2026, tables 1 and 3, in current euros. An asterisk marks NATO estimates. Both use their own definitions, so the figures are not directly comparable.

More in this series

More questions about Germany’s defence budget

How large is the German defence budget for 2026?

The Bundestag adopted budget section 14 for 2026 on 26 November 2025. It provides for spending of 82.69 billion euros, after 62.31 billion euros in 2025. A further 25.51 billion euros come from the Bundeswehr special fund. Together that is 108.2 billion euros, after 86.37 billion euros the year before.

A total of 47.88 billion euros is available for military procurement in 2026, 22.37 billion from budget section 14 and 25.51 billion from the special fund. Personnel is budgeted at 24.71 billion euros, maintaining existing equipment at 7.56 billion and research, development and testing at 1.58 billion euros.

What is the Bundeswehr special fund?

The Bundestag approved the Bundeswehr special fund of 100 billion euros in 2022. It sits alongside the regular budget of the defence ministry and has its own business plan. Spending of 24.06 billion euros was planned from it for 2025, and 25.51 billion euros for 2026.

For 2027 the business plan in the government draft provides around 30 billion euros. According to the government’s planning as described by the Bundestag in September 2026, the special fund is then to be spent by the end of 2027. SIPRI notes that Germany uses such off-budget mechanisms to stay within its limits on new debt.

What does the exemption from the debt brake change?

Since 2025, military spending above 1 percent of economic output has been exempt from the debt brake. The debt brake limits the federal deficit to 0.35 percent of economic output per year. SIPRI calls this change perhaps the most significant reform of Germany’s fiscal framework in 2025.

According to SIPRI, this allows the federal government to finance military spending through borrowing. For 2027 the government draft plans budget section 14 at 109.7 billion euros, 27.1 billion more than in 2026, including 55.8 billion euros for military procurement. The Bundestag has been debating the draft since September 2026.

Is German arms spending the same as military expenditure?

No, arms are only part of it. By SIPRI’s definition, military expenditure also includes salaries and pensions, operations and maintenance, military research and military aid to other states. NATO divides spending into equipment, personnel, infrastructure and other.

In Germany the weighting has shifted considerably. In 2014, according to NATO data, 12.9 percent of defence expenditure went on equipment and 50.7 percent on personnel. For 2026 NATO estimates the share of equipment at 32.1 percent and that of personnel at 22.9 percent.

How much does Germany spend on the military per person?

According to the SIPRI database, German military expenditure in 2025 was 1,346 US dollars per inhabitant. In 2008 it was 558 US dollars, both in current prices. For comparison, the world average in 2025 was 352 US dollars per person, according to SIPRI.

Measured against total government spending, 4.5 percent of German government expenditure went to the military in 2025, according to SIPRI. In 2008 it was 2.7 percent. The world average share in 2025 was 6.9 percent.

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