In 2024, the U.S., China, and Russia were the top countries by military spending, representing more than half of the global total.

Overall, global military expenditures hit a record $2.7 trillion, a 9.4% increase over the year. Amid rising geopolitical tensions, all five regions of the world increased their military spending for the second consecutive year.

This graphic, via Visual Capitalist's Dorothy Neufeld, shows the most militarized countries across three metrics, based on data from the Institute of Economics and Peace.