Will soaring expenditure on defence be a boon for the economy? That’s what politicians are telling voters. But is it really ...

UK expenditure on arms, 1990-2014. SIPRI, Author provided. The table to the left shows UK spending levels in dollars in real terms since 1990, based on constant 2011 prices and exchange rates ...

How countries rank by military spending ... spending in real terms was up by 6.8% from 2022, ... In 2023 it spent $916bn on its armed forces (see chart 2).

The IISS report pointed out that European defence spending grew by 4.8% in real terms in 2021, ... Calls for the PM to increase the UK’s defence spending have come from all sides.

However, real terms defence spending fell by 22% between 2009/2010 and 2016/2017 (from £57.1bn to £44.6bn in 2023/2024 prices), before starting to increase again to nearer its 2010 levels.

UK PM Sunak hasn't committed to 3% target; Defence minister looks to protect budget from inflation; Wallace wants spending increase but lives in "real world" ...

For UK armed forces, the story of the last sixty years has been one of “doing more with less”. As spending on health and social security has gone up, defence spending – as a share of ...

If the Spending Review confirms that the UK is on track to be spending 2.5% on defence by 2029/2030, this would entail significantly more funding than would be needed to keep spending at 2.32% of GDP ...

On Monday Sir Keir Starmer agreed to increase defence spending from the current 2.3% to 2.5% by 2027 and then by the next parliament it will rise to 3%.

Adjusted for military PPP, their combined budget is now equivalent to 76% of America’s. Last year 18 out of 32 NATO countries hit the alliance’s target of 2% of GDP , up from just eleven in 2023.