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Biggest Military Spenders (as a percentage of GDP)

Guess the top 20 military spenders as a percentage of GDP. All data from SIPRI/wikipedia.
For some reason the SIPRI database does not include data on North Korea. If it did, North Korea would easily be #1, as their military budget is somewhere between 25% and 58% of their entire GDP, depending on which set of figures you believe.
I think this is a better way of seeing how much a country prioritizes military spending than looking at total expenditures alone. Think of countries that hate their neighbors (or hate a particular chosen people) and you'll get many of these.
Quiz by
kalbahamut
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Last updated: September 7, 2018
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First submittedJanuary 21, 2013
Times taken4,986
Average score45.0%
Rating4.05
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Hint
Answer
20.9%
Eritrea
10.1%
Saudi Arabia
9.7%
Oman
6.9%
United Arab Emirates
6.5%
Israel
6.2%
Chad
6.1%
Jordan
5.4%
Iraq
5.1%
Georgia
4.7%
United States of America
Hint
Answer
4.4%
Kuwait
4.2%
Angola
4.2%
Armenia
4.1%
Lebanon
4.0%
Syria
3.9%
Russia
3.9%
Yemen
3.8%
Algeria
3.8%
Mauritania
3.8%
Burundi
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14 Comments
Mattar14
+1
Level 12
May 14, 2013
Excellent Quiz! I never knew Eritrea was a huge spender on army resources.
kalbahamut
+4
Level 80
May 18, 2013
I think they are just trying to maintain some sort of parity with much larger, much more populous, and more powerful Ethiopia; whom they have had a long standing war/border dispute with that never had a clear resolution. Eritrea is such a small and poor country that they have to spend a large percentage of their GDP to even try to keep up. In absolute terms, Eritrea's military spending ranks 81st in the world and Ethiopia's ranks 88th; but as a % of GDP Ethiopia only spends 1% vs. Eritrea's 21%. Eritrea also has had hostile relations with Sudan and Yemen, so... they probably feel boxed in. Thanks for taking the quiz and taking the time to comment. :)
Jerry928
+1
Level 76
Jun 23, 2014
I doubt that many of the major spenders would publish honest data about their military spending.
kalbahamut
+3
Level 80
Jun 24, 2014
I'm sure that the data the US publishes is pretty honest and accurate. Though there is a lot that isn't published and "off the books"- though more of that is spent by the NSA and CIA than the DoD and technically not considered defense spending. China's, maybe not so much, but hard to say.
beetboy12
+1
Level 36
Sep 9, 2014
I thought Burma might be on here, but no. Your hint about neighbors helped immensely. I was pretty lost until i read it.
WishfulThinker
+1
Level 30
Jan 18, 2015
North Korea should be here. Wiki is suggesting 15.8% of its GDP?

Surprised to see Saudi Arabia second. Such a rich country, 10% is a hell of a log of spend!

WishfulThinker
+1
Level 30
Jan 18, 2015
Of course, I have only just now read what it says at the top - after posting my comment. I don't have time to read that when the clocks running! Ha!
protector441
+1
Level 48
Apr 30, 2016
Nice quiz and very informative, thanks a lot. I would never guess Mauritania and Burundi, on the other hand i am surprised only 10 and 17 and 18 percent got Angola, Chad and Eritrea. Those I think are pretty obvious ones (though i missed Angola, cause i am stupid and cannot remember fast enough :D). I am quite a lot surprised, that Iran and Sudan didn´t make it here. I would bet on them before taking the test. Both of them are tending toward aggressive foreign policy and have many hostile and/or unstable neighbors (Afghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, Turkey, Saudi Arabia/Chad, Ethiopia, Eritrea, CAR, DRC, Post-Gaddafi Libya).
kalbahamut
+1
Level 80
May 1, 2016
I was also surprised by Iran not showing up. Sudan doesn't really surprise me. There are not many African countries on the list. They fight a lot of wars but don't spend much on tanks or fighter jets. AK-47s and machetes are cheap.
tmaster52
+1
Level 63
Apr 26, 2018
See if the biggest military speners are also one of the 50 most powerful military nations here
kalbahamut
+2
Level 80
Apr 27, 2018
I've often wondered what the relationship between spening and power is.
otterlyuseless
+2
Level 33
May 13, 2020
just start guessing arab world countries
aistiai
+2
Level 39
Sep 5, 2025
This whole list definitely needs to be updated from 7 years ago. Numerous European and Asian countries (Ukraine, Poland, Azerbaijan, China, South Korea to name just a few) have definitely surged past 3.8% if not 5%.
sumguy
+1
Level 87
Dec 4, 2025
Yeah. Things have changed a lot since Russia invaded Ukraine.
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