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Relative to its personnel, the United States spends much more on its military than other major countries.

The chart shows data on military spending per service member, sometimes called a military’s “capital intensity”.

We calculated this metric by dividing spending data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) by data on personnel from multiple sources via the World Bank.

This indicator reflects differences in salaries and benefits for military personnel and more advanced and costly weaponry.

In 2020, the United States spent well over half a million dollars per service member. This was 50% more than the United Kingdom, more than double Germany’s spending per personnel, about six times China’s, and more than twenty times that of Brazil or India.

Explore the capital intensity of militaries worldwide →

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Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine has led to increased military spending not only in the two countries themselves but also in other neighboring countries.

The chart, using inflation-adjusted data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, shows that Russia has increased its military spending to support the invasion, while Ukraine has expanded its budget tenfold to defend itself.

The war has also motivated several of Russia’s other neighbors to increase their military spending. For instance, in 2023, Poland almost doubled its military spending from 15 to 27 billion US$, and Finland raised its budget from 4.5 to 6.9 billion US$.

Other neighboring countries, like Lithuania and Estonia, have so far not made increases as dramatic but have returned to the longer-term expansion of their military budgets.

Some Western European countries, especially Denmark, have also already increased their military spending after Russia’s invasion.

Explore military spending data for every country →