EU Military Spending 2024: $360.2bn, 13.5% of World Total
The 27 European Union members spent a combined $360.2bn on defense in 2024, equal to 13.5% of world military spending.
Key takeaways
- EU members spent a combined $360.2bn on defense in 2024.
- That total equals 13.5% of world military spending in 2024.
- The figure covers all 27 of the EU's 27 current member states, with no gaps.
- This is our calculation summed from SIPRI country-level data, not a total SIPRI itself publishes.
- For alliance-wide context, see NATO defense spending, a separate calculation with different membership.
Verdict
EU member states spent a combined $360.2bn on defense in 2024, or 13.5% of world military spending, based on all 27 of the EU's 27 current members with no coverage gaps. This total is our calculation from SIPRI country-level data, not a figure SIPRI publishes itself.
At a glance
| EU-27 total, 2024 | $360.2bnOur calculation from SIPRI country data |
|---|---|
| Share of world spending | 13.5% |
| Members included | 27 of 27 |
| Currency basis | Constant 2024 US$ |
| Data year | 2024Actual, not an estimate |
European Union members spent a combined $360.2bn on defense in 2024, equal to 13.5% of world military spending. The figure covers all 27 current EU member states and is our calculation from SIPRI country-level data — SIPRI does not publish an EU bloc total itself.
01 EU Military Spending 2024: The Total
Adding up 2024 defense expenditure for every current EU member state produces a combined total of $360.2bn, expressed in SIPRI constant 2024 US dollars. This is not a figure SIPRI itself publishes — the organization reports spending country by country — so the EU-wide sum shown here is our own calculation from that underlying country data.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| EU-27 combined military spending, 2024 | $360.2bn |
| Members included | 27 of 27 |
| Share of world military spending | 13.5% |
02 How the EU Total Compares to World Military Spending
The EU's $360.2bn is 13.5% of world military spending in 2024. The EU bloc therefore accounts for a bit more than one dollar in every eight spent on defense globally in 2024, without SIPRI attributing that world share to any single published EU line item.
03 Coverage: All 27 Member States Included
The $360.2bn total reflects complete coverage — 27 of the EU's 27 current members have 2024 spending data included, with no gaps or estimated substitutions required.
Sum of all 27 current European Union members for 2024.
04 Methodology: How We Calculate the EU Total
The total is built by summing each EU member's individual 2024 military expenditure as reported in the SIPRI dataset, converted to constant 2024 US dollars for comparability across countries and years.
- Source figures — country-level SIPRI military expenditure data for 2024.
- Currency basis — constant 2024 US dollars, removing the effect of inflation and exchange-rate movement across countries.
- Aggregation — a simple sum across all 27 current EU member states; the total is our calculation, not a SIPRI-published figure.
Our calculation from SIPRI country-level data. Not SIPRI's own published total.
05 EU vs NATO: Understanding the Overlap
The EU and NATO are distinct groupings with overlapping but not identical membership, so their spending totals are not directly interchangeable. Readers comparing the $360.2bn EU figure to NATO-wide spending should see NATO defense spending for the alliance's own total, which is built from a different set of member countries and calculated separately.
Frequently Asked Questions
- How much did the EU spend on defense in 2024?
- EU member states spent a combined $360.2bn on defense in 2024, based on our summation of SIPRI country-level data covering all 27 current members.
- What share of world military spending does the EU account for?
- The EU's $360.2bn represents 13.5% of world military spending in 2024.
- Does SIPRI publish an official EU total?
- No. SIPRI publishes country-level military expenditure figures; the $360.2bn EU-27 total is our calculation from that underlying data, not a SIPRI-published aggregate.
- Is the EU total the same as NATO spending?
- No. The EU and NATO have different memberships, so their totals are calculated separately — see NATO defense spending for the alliance figure.
defensebudget.org
Defense spending data, sourced from SIPRI
defensebudget.org tracks military expenditure for 160 countries using the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. Pages are generated from that dataset and reviewed before publication.