U.S. vs. China Military Spending: Which Is Bigger?

U.S. vs. China Military Spending: Which Is Bigger?

The United States is the world’s biggest military spender, with China a distant second. In fact, the U.S. spends more on its military than the nine other nations on the top 10 list of military spenders combined.

In 2024, U.S. military spending was $997 billion. China’s was about $314 billion.

Global military expenditures rose 9.4% to $2.7 trillion in 2024, according to the latest figures available from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), which tracks the numbers on military spending from year to year. This was the world’s greatest year-on-year growth since 1988 and was largely driven by the spending of the U.S. and China.

The top five military spenders were the U.S., China, Russia, Germany, and India, SIPRI reported. Russia spent $149 billion, Germany spent $88.5 billion, and India spent $86.1 billion.

Together, the report says, the U.S. and China were responsible for about half of the world’s military spending.

The SIPRI data on military spending is compiled from open sources, including primary and secondary sources.

U.S. Military Spending

U.S. spending on military has actually been declining for decades as a percentage of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP). From a late 1960s peak of 9.42% during the Vietnam War, defense spending as a percentage of GDP declined to 3.4% in 2024, according to the World Bank. The U.S. trimmed its military budget between 2011 and 2015. Since 2015, its spending on the military has increased every year through 2024.

The aforementioned $997 billion figure for U.S. defense spending for the 2024 fiscal year includes payments for retirement and international affairs.

The increasing budget amounts for military spending since the mid to later 2010s were attributed by some to the U.S. finding itself no longer the planet’s sole military superpower. “For the first time in decades, the United States military apparatus does not possess a clear advantage on the world stage,” said DefenseNews.com. “The flattening of the technological landscape and emergence of peer adversaries requires that the U.S. innovate to remain dominant.”

China Military Spending

It may come as no surprise that a nation with a 4,000-year history of achievement is unlikely to play second fiddle for more than a couple of centuries.

In 2013, President Xi Jinping coined the phrase “the Chinese Dream” to capture the country’s domestic, regional, and global ambitions. 

The next century may well be defined in part by the tension between the American dream and the Chinese dream.

China spent $314 billion on its military in 2024, an increase of 59% during the period from 2015 through 2024. (The U.S. spending represented an increase of 19% during the same period.)

That was enough for China to take second place on the list, outspending a top 10 that in addition to Russia, Germany, and India, includes the U.K., Saudi Arabia, Ukraine, France, and Japan.

It could be argued that China actually outspends the U.S. on its military when personnel costs and purchasing power are taken into account. In fact, Army Chief of Staff Mark Milley made that argument in front of a Senate Defense Appropriations Subcommittee in May 2018.

Chinese military spending has risen consistently since at least 1989. The figure for that year was $11.2 billion.

Special Considerations on Military Spending

Other nations are spending urgently, if not as lavishly, on defense. Germany increased its spending 28% over 2023, and 89% since 2015. Russia’s spending grew by 38% over 2023’s and by 100% since 2015. According to SIPRI, Russia is secretive about its budget and approximately 30% of it was classified in 2024. The war with Ukraine is likely driving its military spending, which is probably higher that $149 billion figure in SIPRI’s 2024 report.