Germany is now the biggest spender in Europe – SIPRI shows figures of “unprecedented increase in global military spending”

Germany became the biggest defense spender in Europe for the first time since the end of the Cold War last year, after spending billions of dollars on procurement, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) said on Monday.

The researcher's annual report on national military spending says Germany's military spending reached 77.8 billion euros ($88.5 billion) last year, surpassing the United Kingdom which spent an equivalent figure of $81.8 billion, foreign media write, reports Telegraph.

This makes Germany the biggest spender in Europe in real terms and the fourth largest in the world after the US, China and Russia.

The boom came thanks to a 100 billion euro off-budget fund created to modernize the national military after Russia's war in Ukraine, said Lorenzo Scarazzato, a researcher at SIPRI who helped compile the figures.

Europe's other biggest spenders in 2024 were the United Kingdom, with 71.9 billion euros ($81.8 billion), followed by Ukraine and France, both with 56.9 billion euros ($64.7 billion).

Every European country except Malta – a neutral state – increased its military spending, taking totals beyond Cold War-era peak levels, the report said.

The largest year-on-year increases included Romania (43%), the Netherlands (35%), Sweden (34%) and the Czech Republic (32%).

"Recent policies adopted in Germany and many other European countries suggest that Europe has entered a period of high and increasing military spending that is likely to continue for the foreseeable future," Scarazzato said.

Still struggling to meet 2%

As large as they are, the figures show how much some key European countries need to do to exceed, or even just meet, NATO's 2% of GDP defense spending target.

While US President Donald Trump is pushing for an increase to 5% of GDP, leaders are expected to agree on a figure at a highly anticipated summit in The Hague this June.

Diplomats expect a compromise can be reached between 3% and 3.5%.

By comparison, SIPRI data shows that US spending reached 876.5 billion euros ($997 billion) in 2024.

This is 66% of all spending by the 32 NATO member countries and 37% of all global military spending in 2024.

Poland is the "undefeated leader" in Europe, having spent 31% more on defense last year compared to 2023, reaching 33.4 billion euros ($38.0 billion) in 2024, according to SIPRI.

NATO reports that Warsaw allocated about 4.07% of its GDP to defense in 2024, based on 2021 prices and exchange rates.

However, the gap is so wide for some countries that, despite a 28% increase in spending year-on-year, Germany would only reach 2.1% of GDP in 2024, figures released by the Western military alliance showed last Thursday.

The Bundestag has approved a constitutional reform that will exempt military spending exceeding 1% of GDP from its rules limiting borrowing under the so-called 'debt brake' mechanism which limits borrowing.

However, no concrete plan has yet been presented on how this new available debt could be used by the German government. /Telegraph/