1.5 times of China, 3 times of Russia: EU spent $402 bn on military in 2024, only US splurged more

In the wake of the Russian aggression, European Union (EU) member-states spent a record sum of €343 billion ($402 billion) on defence last year, which marked a 19 per cent increase over the previous year, according to the European Defence Agency (EDA)’s findings reported by Defense News.

The Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022 and the shadow war on the continent has created the biggest security challenge for Europe since the World War II. EU members, particularly eastern European nations closer to Russia, are ramping up defence capabilities by buying weapons, air defence systems, and boosting strategic infrastructure. They are also buying weapons from the United States on behalf of Ukraine as part of a Nato scheme.

With $402 billion expenditure on defence, EU member-states spent one-and-a-half times more than China and three times more than Russia. Only the United States spent more on defence than the EU.

In 2025, EU member-states are projected to spend around $446 billion on defence, according to the EDA.

Arms purchases, R&D drive EU defence spending

The EU’s defence spending has been driven by the purchase of new equipment and increased funding to research and development (R&D) instead of just money spent on soldiers’ salaries and upkeep of facilities, as per the EDA.

The investment accounted for 31 per cent ($124 billion) of total spending, of which $15 billion was spent on R&D.

The hike in the purchase of equipment was 39 per cent and the R&D was 20 per cent.

The EDA’s report further said that the increased spending was not an isolated incident but a yearslong effort that first picked pace after the Russian invasion and annexation of Ukraine’s Crimea region in 2014 and acquired greater urgency after the Russian full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

Out of 27 EU-member states, 25 members saw an increase in defence spending and expansion of their militaries, and 16 of these 25 members spent 10 per cent more on defence last year compared to the previous year, according to the report.

Some of the highest-spending members are eastern European nations that spent over 3 to 4 per cent of their GDP on defence. These nations are led by Poland, followed by Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania.