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Fatma Zibak
Turkey’s military spending rose to $30 billion in 2025, making it 18th among the world’s top defense spenders, according to new data from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI).
The figure marks a 7.2 percent increase from 2024 and a 94 percent rise compared to 2016, reflecting a sustained upward trend in Ankara’s defense expenditure.
In its report, titled “Trends in World Military Expenditure, 2025” and released on Monday, SIPRI said the increase was driven in part by Turkey’s ongoing military operations in Iraq, Somalia and Syria, but mainly by investments in its domestic defense industry.
Turkey has maintained a cross-border military presence in northern Iraq and Syria for years, targeting Kurdish militants it links to the outlawed Kurdistan Workers’ Party (PKK), which is designated as a terrorist organization by Turkey and its Western allies.
Turkey’s presence in Somalia is related to training and supporting Somali security forces, with its largest overseas military training base in Mogadishu playing a key role in efforts to combat the al-Qaeda-linked al-Shabaab militant group since its opening in 2017.
Allocations to a special fund supporting the Turkish arms sector rose 25 percent year-on-year and accounted for 22 percent of total military spending in 2025, the report said, referring to Turkey’s Defense Industry Support Fund, which finances domestic weapons production and procurement.
Turkey’s military spending accounted for 1.9 percent of its GDP in 2025, down slightly from 2 percent in 2016, while its share of global military spending stood at about 1 percent in 2025, according to the report.
The Turkish government says it is working to reduce Turkey’s dependence on foreign countries for arms and military equipment by investing more in the national defense industry, which has boomed over the past years. Turkey is now one of the world’s main exporters of armed drones.
The data come as global military spending rose for the 11th consecutive year, reaching a record $2.9 trillion in 2025 amid ongoing conflicts and geopolitical tensions. The total accounted for 2.5 percent of global GDP.
Europe was a major driver of the increase, with spending on the continent rising by 14 percent to $864 billion, fueled largely by security concerns following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Germany led European spending with a 24 percent increase to $114 billion, becoming the world’s fourth-largest military spender.
Global military spending remained highly concentrated among a handful of countries in 2025, with the United States, China and Russia retaining their positions as the top three spenders.
The United States led by a wide margin with $954 billion, followed by China with an estimated $336 billion and Russia with about $190 billion. At the other end of the top 40 list, countries such as Switzerland, Iran, Czechia and Iraq were among the lowest spenders, each allocating between roughly $6.4 billion and $7.6 billion to their militaries, highlighting the significant gap between the world’s largest and smaller defense budgets.
SIPRI researchers say the upward trend in global military spending is likely to continue, as many countries have already committed to long-term defense plans in response to persistent conflicts and geopolitical uncertainty.
“Global military spending rose again in 2025 as states responded to another year of wars, uncertainty and geopolitical upheaval with large-scale armament drives,” said Xiao Liang, a researcher with SIPRI’s Military Expenditure and Arms Production Programme.
“Given the range of current crises, as well as many states’ long-term military spending targets, this growth will probably continue through 2026 and beyond.”
SIPRI is a Swedish-based organization dedicated to research on conflict, armaments and arms control.