How much do governments spend on defence?

In 2023, the EU countries’ general government expenditure on defence amounted to €227 billion, representing 2.7% of total general government expenditure. This is equivalent to 1.3% of GDP.

At EU level, the share of defence expenditure in total expenditure decreased from 3.0% in 1995 to 2.7% in 2023. However, compared with 2021 and 2022, this share increased from 2.4% of total expenditure in 2021 to 2.5% of total expenditure in 2022 and 2.7% of total expenditure in 2023. 

This information comes from data on general government expenditure by function (COFOG) published by Eurostat. 

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Source dataset: gov_10a_exp

Highest ratio of government expenditure on defence to GDP in Latvia, lowest in Ireland

In 2023, the highest levels of total expenditure on defence among EU countries were observed in Latvia (3.1% of GDP), Estonia (2.7% of GDP), Lithuania (2.5% of GDP), Greece (2.2% of GDP), Poland (2.1% of GDP), Cyprus and Hungary (both 1.9% of GDP) as well as France, Denmark and Sweden (for each 1.8% of GDP).

By contrast, Ireland (0.2% of GDP), Malta (0.4% of GDP), Luxembourg and Austria (both 0.6% of GDP) had comparatively low government expenditure on defence in the EU.

For more information

• Statistics Explained article on government expenditure on defence
• Set of statistical articles on government expenditure by function (COFOG)
• Thematic section on government finance statistics and EDP statistics
• Database on on general government expenditure by function (COFOG)
• Government expenditure interactive dashboard

Methodological notes

Data for the EU and euro area aggregates (2023), Belgium (2023), Germany (2021-2023), Spain (2023), France (all years) and Portugal (2023), Slovakia (all years) is provisional. Further methodological information is available in the Statistics Explained article.

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