John Paul Rathbone of the Financial Times reports that Russia’s defense spending exceeded Europe’s combined total in 2024, reaching $462 billion. President Trump has called for Europe to increase defense spending to 3-5% of GDP, which could surpass Russia’s spending, though fiscal constraints may limit growth. Rathbone writes:
Military spending in Russia, whose economy President Vladimir Putin has put on a war footing, now outstrips all of Europe’s defence budgets combined, according to a study.
Total Russian defence spending soared last year by 42 per cent in real terms to Rbs13.1tn. That is equivalent to $462bn on the basis of purchasing power parity, which adjusts for what currencies can buy in their home countries.
European defence budgets by comparison, including the UK and EU member states, rose almost 12 per cent last year to $457bn — slightly less than Moscow’s spending, the International Institute for Strategic Studies think-tank said on Wednesday. […]
Trump has also said Europe should spend 5 per cent of GDP on defence, compared with its current average of about 1.7 per cent. Nato secretary-general Mark Rutte has, meanwhile, said European defence spending needs to rise to 3 per cent. […]
French defence spending, traditionally Europe’s second largest in absolute terms, rose 4.5 per cent to $64bn last year, equivalent to 2 per cent of GDP.
Among Europe’s biggest defence spenders, Estonia, which borders Russia, spent almost 4 per cent of GDP on defence last year, with Poland at 3.25 per cent being Europe’s second highest. But their absolute levels of defence spending were far smaller than Europe’s three biggest economies, at $1.7bn and $28bn respectively.
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