Japan’s Military Spending Reaches Over ¥9 Trillion in 2025

Spending at 1.4% of GDP

The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute recently announced the results of its survey on global military spending in 2025. Japan remained in tenth position, although its spending increased by 9.7% to $62.2 billion (in yen terms, it was a 13.2% rise to ¥9.3 trillion).

In 1988, Japan’s military spending stood at ¥3.7 trillion. However, in 1990 it reached the ¥4 trillion mark, and it continued to rise throughout the 1990s. From the 2000s up through the early 2020s, it remained around ¥5 trillion, but surpassed ¥6 trillion for the first time in 2023 before surging to over ¥8 trillion in 2024 and over ¥9 trillion in 2025. As a share of GDP, Japan’s military spending was 1.4% in 2025.

The United States dominated the ranking at $954 billion, followed by China with an estimated $336 billion and Russia with an estimated $190 billion. Rounding out the list were Germany, India, Britain, Ukraine, Saudi Arabia, France, and Japan. Russia’s total increased by 5.9% year on year, while Ukraine’s rose by 20% to $84.1 billion. Israel was ranked eleventh, although its spending fell by 4.9% to $48.3 billion.

Top Three Countries Dominate

The United States accounted for 33% of total global military spending, China an estimated 12%, and Russia an estimated 6.6%, meaning that these three countries combined spent more than half of the total. Japan’s spending was 2.2% of the overall figure. Overall spending for the top 15 countries accounted for 80% of the total.

Globally, military spending accounted for 2.5% of GDP. Among the top-spending nations, the figure was 3.1% in the United States, an estimated 1.7% in China, and an estimated 7.5% in Russia. In major European countries, it was 2.3% in Germany, 2.4% in Britain, 2.0% in France, and 1.9% in Italy.

Data Sources

• Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025 from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute

(Translated from Japanese. Banner photo: A Type 10 tank firing at a target during a Ground Self-Defense Force live-fire exercise at the East Fuji Maneuver Area in Shizuoka Prefecture on June 8, 2025. © Jiji.)