About this chart race
The United States finishes first in every single year of this series. In 2024 it spent $997.3B, roughly as much as the next nine countries combined. China first reached second place in 2008 and has held it ever since. Russia appears only from 1993 — the World Bank series has no entry for the Soviet Union, so the Cold War is visible here only through NATO members.
This animated ranking shows how military expenditure changed across 27 series between 1960 and 2024. The bars re-order themselves as the years advance, so overtakes are visible as they happen rather than hidden inside a table. Use the list on the left to choose exactly who competes, drag the slider to jump to any year, or open the table view to read the underlying numbers.
As of 2024, United States leads with 997.3 US$ billion.
Included in this race
United States, China, Russia, Germany, Saudi Arabia, India, United Kingdom, Ukraine, France, Japan, South Korea, Israel, Poland, Italy, Brazil, Australia, Myanmar, Canada, Turkiye, Spain, Netherlands, Iran, Kuwait, Sweden, Romania, Argentina, Nigeria.
Source
Data from World Bank (SIPRI). Every figure shown comes from this source — nothing is estimated or generated.
You can browse every chart race, embed this one on your own site, or download it as a video to share.