Global Militarisation Index 2023

The war in Ukraine has had mixed effects on global militarisation. Even if, in view of increasing financial and human resources in the form of growing GDP or population figures, militarisation has decreased slightly or even significantly in some countries, in absolute terms, global defence spending is on the rise. This trend is also apparent in Western and Central Europe. Here, military spending recently rose by 13 per cent, the largest increase since the end of the Cold War.

The ten most militarised countries in this year's GMI ranking are Ukraine, Israel, Armenia, Qatar, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Greece, Singapore, Azerbaijan and Russia—four of which can be found in this year's focus on the post-Soviet region.

"In the Top 10, it is notable that Ukraine, which has a very high militarisation dynamic in the wake of the Russian war of aggression, has replaced Israel in first place. The high number of post-Soviet countries in the Top 10 also points to the high conflict potential and the changing power and alliance constellations in this region," lead author Dr Markus Bayer points out.

Regional Militarisation in Focus: The Post-Soviet Space

This year's regional section focuses on the post-Soviet space. The 15 states that became independent with the collapse of the Soviet Union are now highly militarised for a variety of reasons. On the one hand, many of them inherited large armies, arsenals and extensive, well-equipped paramilitary security apparatuses from the former Soviet era. On the other, the conflict between integration and independence, as well as conflicts with Russia and inter-state conflicts, are key drivers of militarisation in the region.

BICC's Global Militarisation Index (GMI) provides an annual ranking of a country’s militarisation by measuring the resources it allocates to its military apparatus in relation to other areas of society. The Index has been published for 20 years. The GMI is sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ).

More information on the GMI can be found here, and all data from the last 30 years can be found on the GMI homepage. Here, you can find the German and English versions of the GMI 2023.

Our authors

Dr Markus Bayer is the lead author with key expertise in militarisation, civil–military relations, democratisation, (non)violent resistance, post-post colonial theory and practice.

Stella Hauk is a student assistant at BICC and currently an MA Student of Political Science at the University of Bonn.