Military Spending by Country | 1830-2022

This video ranks the top 15 countries in the world by military spending per year from 1830 to 2022. Spending is calculated in US dollars and is not adjusted for inflation.

*
*
*

Source: ourworldindata, SIPRI
Music: Hearts of Iron IV

[gozhdaa]

1833-1840 Carlist War
1839-1842 First Opium War
1846-1848 Mexican-American War
1853-1856 Crimean War
1861-1865 American Civil War
1866 Austro-Prussian War
1870-1871 Franco-Prussian War
1877-1878 Russo-Turkish War
1898-1899 Spanish-American War
1904-1905 Russo-Japanese War
1910-1919 Mexican Border War
1912-1913 Balkan Wars
1914-1918 World War I
1917-1922 Russian Civil War
1927-1949 Chinese Civil War
1937-1945 Second Sino-Japanese War
1939-1945 World War II
1947-1991 Cold War
1950-1953 Korean War
1955-1975 Vietnam War
1980-1988 Iran-Iraq War
1990-1991 Gulf War
2003-2011 Iraq War
2001-Present War on Terror
2022-2023 Russo-Ukrainian War

[hailexiao]

The Soviet Union spending $300 billion on defense in 1985 is insane. As a % of GDP, that's like USA or China spending $3.5 trillion on defense in 2023.

[lepage]

800 billion dollars. Can you smell it? That smell of democracy

[titanx]

You know germany is up to something when their military budget explodes 😂😂😂😊

[pahtar]

These dynamic graphs are much more useful when you note major events within the video. For example starting in 1859 the US undergoes a meteoric rise then plumets after 1866. It's due to the Civil War of course, but many of the dramatic changes aren't so obvious - at least to me.

[zacharymoye]

Damn, France kicked serious ass for nearly a century 😳.

[bifa]

5:55 I like how after WWII Poland jumped straight into 3rd place

[ashhathaway]

It's interesting to note that Soviet military spending surpassed the United States in 1969, and remained significantly higher throughout the 1970s. The Carter and Reagan military build-ups are noticeable in the late 1970s and into the 1980s. Excellent graphs, thank you for posting this!

[SebHaarfagre]

First of all, I love that the HoI3/4 soundtrack is used.
Secondly, ridiculous how well it fits dynamically with the graphs?!?

Third, as a history nerd, this is simply the best

[victorbroquart]

In 1856, there is no French kingdom, we were ruled by Napoleon III, the Second Empire, after Napoleon was elected as the first French president democratically elected, he declared the empire one year later.

[Zopiexx]

The Soviet Union had the lead for quite a while

[AmmarAlshomali]

When the soviet union collapsed but still the United States didn't stop spending...

[creanero]

The brief appearance of what should be the Irish Free State (instead of the Republic of Ireland, a term that wasn't used until 1948) on this chart says something about how absurdly expensive the civil war was.

[Sveta]

It's funny how people nowdays laugh at Russian performance in Ukraine and compare it to the US, which has a budget almost as big as all of these countries combined... Russia is not the Soviet Union anymore and it's doing quite well considering.

[KrauserAMG]

Russia's army budget is several times smaller than that of the United States, but at the same time Russia holds the status of the 2nd army in the world in power. Just imagine what Russia would do with the US budget 💀

[dylanhoeltzel]

Soviet Union:OK usa I'm out you can stop spending
Usa:Eh, no thanks
😂😂😂😂

Edit: Holy cow that's a lot of likes
Edit 2:There's a war in the replies 💀

[amin]

UK 1948: Poland what hell are you doing
Poland: sorry I'm going back now

[simonsonne]

Everyone is "war over let's stop spending so much on our military" USA: "hold my beer"

[__MU_MU__]

The United States has more than 730 military bases around the world
Media:Our world is threatened by Russia😂

[JBlack]

It's crazy how quickly the US can dwarf other nations in military spending when we gear up for war.