What Is a Defense Budget? US Spending Hit $929.2bn in 2025
A defense budget is the amount a government allocates to military spending in a given year, and in 2025 the United States budgeted $929.2bn — the largest in the world.
Key takeaways
- A defense budget is a government's planned military spending for a year — the US budgeted $929.2bn for 2025, the largest in the world.
- The US figure equals 3.12% of US GDP and 33.911% of world military spending.
- US defense spending fell 7.5% year over year in 2025 and remains below its 2010 peak of $1,061.7bn.
- Over 5 years the US budget shrank at -0.3% annually (CAGR), but grew 1.03% annually over 10 years.
- 'Defense budget' (planned spending) and 'military expenditure' (actual outturn) are related but distinct terms.
Verdict
A defense budget is a government's planned annual military spending, and the clearest real-world benchmark is the United States' $929.2bn in 2025 — the world's largest, at 3.12% of US GDP and 33.911% of world military spending.
At a glance
| 2025 US defense budget | $929.2bnWorld's largest, rank #1 |
|---|---|
| Share of US GDP | 3.12% |
| Share of world spending | 33.911% |
| Year-over-year change | -7.5% |
| Peak year | $1,061.7bn (2010) |
| 10-year CAGR | 1.03% |
A defense budget is the amount of money a government sets aside for military spending in a given year. The clearest real-world example is also the largest: the United States budgeted $929.2bn for defense in 2025, more than any other country on Earth.
01 What Is a Defense Budget?
A defense budget is the planned allocation of government funds toward a country's armed forces, weapons procurement, personnel, research, and military operations for a fiscal year. It is a policy document as much as a financial one — the number reflects choices about threat perception, alliance commitments, and domestic priorities. Figures used on this site, including the United States' $929.2bn total, are drawn from SIPRI's constant 2024 US-dollar military expenditure dataset (data as of July 2026), which allows spending to be compared across countries and years without currency or inflation distortion.
02 The US Defense Budget in 2025: $929.2bn
In 2025, the United States allocated $929.2bn to defense — the highest figure of any country and the top entry in the 2025 world rankings. That total marks a 7.5% decline year over year.
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| 2025 defense budget | $929.2bn |
| World rank | 1 |
| Share of GDP | 3.12% |
| Share of world total | 33.911% |
| Year-over-year change | -7.5% |
03 Defense Budget as a Share of GDP and World Spending
Raw dollar figures only mean so much without a denominator. The US defense budget equaled 3.12% of US GDP in 2025 — the share of the country's entire economic output devoted to the military that year. Globally, the $929.2bn US total represented 33.911% of worldwide military expenditure, meaning the United States alone accounted for roughly one in every three dollars spent on defense worldwide.
04 How the US Defense Budget Has Changed Over Time
The $929.2bn figure sits well below the US defense budget's all-time peak of $1,061.7bn, reached in 2010. Measured over longer windows, the trend is mixed: the budget has shrunk at a compound annual rate of -0.3% over the past five years, but grown at 1.03% annually over the past ten — meaning the more recent decline follows a longer period of gradual net growth from a lower base.
| Period | Change |
|---|---|
| Year over year (2024→2025) | -7.5% |
| 5-year CAGR | -0.3% |
| 10-year CAGR | 1.03% |
| Peak year (2010) | $1,061.7bn |
All figures are in constant 2024 US dollars, so these comparisons strip out inflation and reflect real changes in spending power, not just nominal dollar totals.
05 Defense Budget vs. Military Expenditure
"Defense budget" and "military expenditure" are often used interchangeably, but they describe different stages of the same money. A defense budget is the amount a legislature approves or a government plans to spend in a given year — it is forward-looking and can include projections. Military expenditure, the term SIPRI uses for its dataset, is the outturn: what was actually disbursed, reconstructed from national accounts and defense-ministry reporting after the fact. The $929.2bn figure for the United States in 2025 is treated here as an actual, not an estimate, figure. When comparing countries via the 2025 world rankings, it's worth checking whether a given year is flagged as an estimate, since projected years for other countries may not yet reflect final outturns the way the 2025 US figure does.
Frequently Asked Questions
- What is a defense budget?
- A defense budget is the amount of money a government plans to spend on its military — personnel, equipment, operations, and research — in a given fiscal year. The US example for 2025 is $929.2bn.
- What was the US defense budget in 2025?
- $929.2bn, the largest of any country, equal to 3.12% of US GDP and 33.911% of world military spending.
- Is the US defense budget growing or shrinking?
- It fell 7.5% year over year in 2025 and has declined at a -0.3% compound annual rate over the past 5 years, though it grew at 1.03% annually over the past 10 years and remains below its 2010 peak of $1,061.7bn.
- Is 'defense budget' the same as 'military expenditure'?
- Not exactly — a defense budget is planned spending, while military expenditure (the term SIPRI uses) is the actual amount disbursed. The $929.2bn 2025 US figure is treated as an actual figure, not an estimate.
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.