Europe Leads Global Military Spending to Record Highs

Europe led global military spending to rise to a record high of $2.9 trillion last year, the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (sipri) reported this morning. Of all global economic output, 2.5 percent was spent on militaries, up from 2.4 percent last year, the highest level since 2009.

• Whereas the world’s military spending is up 2.9 percent in real terms, European military spending rose nearly five times faster—by 14 percent—to reach a total of $864 billion.
• German spending grew nearly 10 times faster than the global average—by 24 percent—making it Europe’s largest military spender and the world’s fourth largest. Italy increased by 20 percent, Poland by 23 percent, and Spain by 50 percent.

“In 2025 military spending by European nato members rose faster than at any time since 1953, reflecting the ongoing pursuit of European self-reliance alongside increasing pressure from the United States to strengthen burden sharing within the alliance,” said sipri researcher Jade Guiberteau Ricard.

Also outpacing the world average was military spending in Asia and Oceania, which rose by 8.1 percent. Japan’s military spending reached 1.4 percent of gdp, its highest level since 1958.

• Meanwhile, the United Kingdom’s military spending dropped 2 percent, and U.S. military spending decreased 7.5 percent. However, the reason for America’s drop is that SIPRI counts military aid from the U.S. to Ukraine as U.S. spending, and that aid decreased.

The report comes the week after Germany published its first national strategic military planning documents since World War ii.

• “Germany is trying to shake off the traumatic memory of the 20th century and the embarrassments of the recent past by launching one of the greatest rearmament programs in peacetime history,” wrote the Telegraph over the weekend. A rapid rearmament program is an unusual way to “shake off” the “traumatic memories” of World War ii.
• “Money is no constraint on Germany’s military expansion—the only limitations are recruitment, industrial capacity and political will,” states the article. It also notes: “If any European country can build the industrial base for rapid military expansion, it is Germany.”

Political will is also strong. Matthias Strohn of Buckingham University told the Telegraph:

“German society has changed quite a bit. If you had asked me five years ago, I would have said that this isn’t going to last, and that this military strategy document will just disappear somewhere. But something has changed quite drastically in the last five years.”

Germany has talked big about its future plans for years. The sipri report confirms that Germany has, so far, followed through on those dramatic plans.

“From the end of World War ii until his death in 1986, Mr. Armstrong warned that Germany would rise again,” Stephen Flurry wrote in the February Trumpet issue. “For 36 years, the Trumpet has continued sounding the alarm that a German war machine will rise. This war machine is here now!”

This report is dramatic proof of Bible prophecies we have proclaimed for decades. To keep up to date with this critical story, sign up for your free subscription to the Trumpet magazine.