Ukraine (No.1) and Israel (No.3) entered the top of the most militarized economies in the world: Visual Capitalist ranking based on SIPRI-2025 data

Visual Capitalist published a ranking of the 25 most militarized economies in the world by the share of military spending in GDP in 2025. Ukraine was placed in a separate category due to the full-scale war against Russian aggression, and Israel entered the top three countries with the highest defense burden.

Ukraine ahead of everyone: 39.6% of GDP on defense

Ukraine became the most militarized economy in the world by the share of military spending in GDP. According to the ranking by Visual Capitalist / Voronoi, published on June 5, 2026, in 2025 Ukraine’s military spending reached 39.6% of GDP. In absolute numbers, this is $84 billion.

This is not just the first place in the table. It is a huge gap from all other countries, and it is this that makes the Ukrainian figure the main fact of the entire ranking.

Algeria ranks second with 8.8% of GDP.

Third — Israel with 7.8% of GDP.

Russia, which is waging a full-scale war against Ukraine, is in fourth place with 7.5% of GDP, although in absolute numbers its military spending is significantly higher than Ukraine’s — $190 billion versus $84 billion.

The meaning of the ranking is precisely this: it shows not who spends more in dollars, but what part of its own economy a country is forced to allocate for military needs.

Therefore, Ukraine stands separately in this list. Its figure of 39.6% of GDP is the level of a country where war has become the main factor of the budget, economy, industry, tax policy, social burden, and international dependence.

Visual Capitalist directly links the Ukrainian result with the cost of fighting against the full-scale invasion by Russia. The material also emphasizes that such a level of spending would be difficult for Ukraine to maintain without Western military and financial assistance.

Why the Ukrainian figure became a global anomaly

Ukraine spends almost 40% of its economy on defense. For comparison: Algeria, which is in second place, spends 8.8% of GDP. Israel — 7.8%. Russia — 7.5%. Saudi Arabia — 6.5%.

That is, the Ukrainian figure is about 4.5 times higher than that of the nearest follower.

This is an important difference. Ukraine has not just increased its defense budget. It is effectively living in a wartime economy mode, where a significant portion of state resources is directed towards the survival of the country, maintaining the front, supplying the army, purchasing weapons, paying the military, restoring infrastructure, and maintaining basic state governance.

For the Israeli audience, this is especially understandable. Israel also knows that security is expensive. But the Ukrainian figure shows a different scale: when the war is on the territory of the country, when cities are under missile attacks, when millions of people depend on the army, budget, and external assistance simultaneously.

Israel in third place: the high cost of constant security

Israel ranked third in the world among the most militarized economies by the share of military spending in GDP. According to Visual Capitalist, in 2025 Israel’s military spending amounted to 7.8% of GDP, or $48 billion.

This is one of the highest figures in the world.

For Israel, such a position does not seem accidental. The country lives in a region where security is not an abstract political topic. Behind this figure are wars, terrorist threats, missile attacks, the need to maintain a powerful army, air defense system, intelligence, reserve, defense technologies, and constant readiness for several scenarios simultaneously.

After October 7, Israeli security became even more expensive. The threat from Hamas from Gaza, Hezbollah from the north, the Iranian regime, proxy forces, drones, missiles, and regional escalation directly affect military spending.

But the Visual Capitalist ranking is important because it places Israel alongside Ukraine not emotionally, but economically. Both countries are at the top of the list because they are forced to live under threat conditions. The difference is that Ukraine today bears the extreme burden of a country repelling a full-scale invasion, while Israel bears the burden of a state that has been building an economy of constant defense for decades.

Ukraine and Israel: two different models of military burden

Ukraine is an economy of full-scale war.

Israel is an economy of constant security.

These two formulas help to understand the ranking better than just a percentage table. Ukraine ended up first not because it chose militarization as a political ideology. It is forced to spend a huge share of GDP on defense because it is defending the existence of the state from Russian aggression.

Israel ended up third because its security always requires a high level of mobilization, technology, army, intelligence, and readiness. But even with this, the Israeli figure — 7.8% of GDP — is five times lower than Ukraine’s.

This is where the ranking becomes especially important for the reader in Israel. NAnews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency considers such data through the connection of Ukrainian and Israeli experience: both countries know the cost of threat, but Ukraine today shows an extreme model of an economy where defense has become not one of the budget items, but the central axis of the entire state life.

There is another important contrast. The USA ranks only 23rd in terms of military spending as a share of GDP — 3.1%, but in absolute numbers, this is $954 billion. This is the largest amount in the ranking. That is, a rich and huge economy can spend almost a trillion dollars but not feel the same share of internal tension as Ukraine with its $84 billion and 39.6% of GDP.

Russia has a different picture: $190 billion and 7.5% of GDP. It spends more than Ukraine in dollars but less in the share of the economy. At the same time, it is Russian aggression that has caused Ukraine’s extreme defense burden and pushed many European countries to increase military spending after 2022.

Full ranking of the 25 most militarized economies in the world

The Visual Capitalist / Voronoi ranking is compiled based on data from the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. The author of the material is Niccolo Conte, the editor is Bruno Venditti, and the design is by Cynthia Tran Vo. The publication date is June 5, 2026.

The methodology is simple: countries are ranked by military spending as a share of GDP in 2025. This is not a ranking of the largest armies or a list of the largest military budgets in dollars. It is an indicator of what part of its economy a state directs to military needs.

What is visible from the table

• First: Ukraine is in a separate category. No other country in the ranking comes close to its level of defense burden.
• Second: Israel is among the top three countries in the world with the highest share of military spending in GDP. This confirms that Israeli security remains one of the most expensive in the world relative to the size of the economy.
• Third: The USA remains the world’s main military giant in absolute spending — $954 billion. But in terms of GDP share, the USA is only in 23rd place because its economy is much larger.
• Fourth: The Russian war against Ukraine has changed Europe’s defense priorities. Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, and Denmark are high in the ranking.
• Fifth: Among the leaders are many countries from the Middle East and North Africa. This shows that regional conflicts, oil revenues, the threat of instability, and constant security risks directly affect military budgets.

Middle East and North Africa: oil, threats, and military budgets

Visual Capitalist separately highlights the role of the Middle East and North Africa. The top 25 includes Algeria, Israel, Saudi Arabia, Oman, Kuwait, Jordan, Morocco, and Bahrain.

Algeria ranks second with 8.8% of GDP and $25 billion in military spending. For North Africa, this is an indicator of the importance the state places on military power and regional balance.

Saudi Arabia spends $83 billion, or 6.5% of GDP. This is almost as much as Ukraine in absolute numbers, but with a completely different economic base and nature of threats. Oil revenues allow such countries to maintain large military budgets without the same share of internal tension that Ukraine experiences.

Oman ranks 8th — 5.7% of GDP and $6 billion.

Kuwait — 9th place, 4.7% of GDP and $8.1 billion.

Jordan — 10th place, 4.6% of GDP and $2.6 billion.

Bahrain — 24th place, 3.1% of GDP and 1.5 billion dollars.

Israel stands out among these countries with a special type of defense burden. It is not an oil economy that finances security from resource windfalls. It is a technological, mobilization, and military economy where security is directly linked to the country’s survival, population protection, reserve army, air defense, and constant readiness for war on multiple fronts.

Europe after 2022: Russian aggression changed the calculations

The ranking shows that Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine changed not only the Ukrainian economy. It changed Europe’s defense thinking.

Poland ranks 11th: 4.5% of GDP and 47 billion dollars. For a NATO country, this is one of the highest indicators. Poland is close to the Russian threat zone, borders Ukraine and Belarus, strengthens its army, and makes defense one of the central themes of national policy.

Latvia ranks 13th: 3.6% of GDP and 1.7 billion dollars.

Estonia — 16th place: 3.4% of GDP and 1.6 billion dollars.

These figures reflect the Baltic countries’ fear of the Russian threat. For Latvia and Estonia, the war against Ukraine is not a distant conflict but a warning that Russian aggression can change borders and security rules in Europe.

Norway and Denmark also entered the ranking with an equal share of 3.3% of GDP. Norway spends 17 billion dollars, Denmark — 15 billion dollars. This shows that Northern Europe is also restructuring its defense priorities after 2022.

For NANews — Israel News | Nikk.Agency, this part of the ranking is as important as the Ukrainian and Israeli parts. Russian aggression against Ukraine has long ceased to be only a Ukrainian tragedy. It has become a factor that changes budgets, alliances, military planning, and strategic fears of an entire continent.

Caucasus, Africa, and other ranking participants

At the top of the ranking are Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Azerbaijan ranks 6th: 6.5% of GDP and 4.9 billion dollars. Armenia — 7th place: 6.1% of GDP and 1.7 billion dollars. These indicators reflect the tension in the South Caucasus and the importance of the military factor for the two countries after several years of conflicts, crises, and shifts in the balance of power.

In Africa, besides Algeria and Morocco, the ranking includes Mali, South Sudan, Burkina Faso, Burundi, and Chad.

• Mali — 12th place: 3.9% of GDP and 0.9 billion dollars.
• South Sudan — 15th place: 3.4% of GDP and 0.2 billion dollars.
• Burkina Faso — 17th place: 3.3% of GDP and 0.9 billion dollars.
• Burundi — 20th place: 3.2% of GDP and 0.2 billion dollars.
• Chad — 22nd place: 3.2% of GDP and 0.7 billion dollars.

These countries do not have gigantic defense budgets in dollars, but their place in the ranking is explained precisely by the share of GDP. For small and vulnerable economies, even relatively small amounts become a heavy burden if they occupy a significant part of the national product.

Morocco ranks 14th — 3.5% of GDP and 6.3 billion dollars. Colombia — 21st place, 3.2% of GDP and 14 billion dollars. Botswana closes the list in 25th place with 3.1% of GDP and 0.6 billion dollars.

Why absolute sums can be misleading

The Visual Capitalist ranking is also important because it breaks the usual perception of military budgets.

Usually, attention is focused on absolute sums. USA — 954 billion dollars. Russia — 190 billion dollars. Saudi Arabia — 83 billion dollars. Ukraine — 84 billion dollars. Israel — 48 billion dollars.

But if you only look at dollars, the main question disappears: how heavy is this for the economy itself?

For the USA, 954 billion dollars is a huge amount, but it is 3.1% of GDP. For Ukraine, 84 billion dollars is less in absolute terms, but it is 39.6% of GDP. The difference is colossal.

That is why Ukraine is in first place, and the USA is only in 23rd. That is why Israel with 48 billion dollars is in third place, and Saudi Arabia with 83 billion dollars is in fifth.

The percentage of GDP shows not the size of the military machine, but the depth of economic mobilization. It shows how much a country gives to defense relative to its own capabilities.

• For Ukraine, this is an indicator of a war for survival.
• For Israel, it is an indicator of the constant cost of security.
• For Poland, Latvia, Estonia, Norway, and Denmark, it is an indicator of how the Russian threat after 2022 forced Europe to reconsider previous illusions.

What this ranking says to Israel

For the Israeli reader, this ranking does not look like foreign statistics. Israel itself is in third place in the world. This means that the country bears one of the highest defense burdens on the planet.

But the Ukrainian indicator should be perceived separately.

39.6% of GDP is not just an army budget. It is a sign that the war has become the center of the entire economic system. Ukraine is forced to finance defense, maintain state institutions, rebuild destruction, pay for the human cost of war, and simultaneously depend on international support.

The Israeli experience helps to understand why security cannot be measured only by money. But the Ukrainian experience shows that a full-scale war can consume such a share of national resources that for most countries in the world looks almost impossible.

This is the main conclusion of the ranking: militarization in 2025 has become not a matter of political slogan, but a reaction of states to threats. Somewhere it is Russian aggression. Somewhere regional instability. Somewhere fear of neighbors. Somewhere terrorist threats and the Iranian factor.

But in each case, it is about the cost of security.

Final conclusion

The ranking of the 25 most militarized economies in the world shows how differently countries pay for defense.

Ukraine is first with a huge lead: 39.6% of GDP and 84 billion dollars. This is an economy of full-scale war, forced to defend against Russian aggression.

Israel is third: 7.8% of GDP and 48 billion dollars. This is an economy of constant security, living under the pressure of regional threats, terrorism, rocket wars, and the need to maintain military superiority.

The USA is 23rd in terms of GDP share, but first in absolute spending: 954 billion dollars. Russia is fourth in terms of GDP share and second among key figures in this context in terms of absolute military burden: 190 billion dollars.

These figures show not only budgets. They show a map of fear, threats, and forced decisions.

Ukraine and Israel found themselves at the top of the ranking for different reasons, but both stories speak of one thing: in a world where aggressors, terrorist regimes, and unstable regions test the boundaries of power, defense becomes not a choice, but a condition for the existence of a state.

What is the Visual Capitalist / Voronoi ranking and can it be trusted

Visual Capitalist / Voronoi is not a military department or a research institute. It is a media and data visualization platform that takes data from open sources, formats it into charts, tables, and rankings, and then briefly explains the main meaning of the numbers.

In such rankings, it is important to look not only at the headline but also at the methodology. In this case, it compares not the strength of the army, not the amount of weapons, and not the combat capability of the country, but the share of military spending in the economy.

Therefore, the ranking shows precisely the defense burden on GDP. It helps to understand what part of the national economy goes to military needs, but does not answer the question of whose army is stronger or more effective.

Such a ranking can be trusted as a visual retelling of data from an authoritative source. But it cannot be read more broadly than the methodology allows. Military budgets in different countries are calculated differently, and in closed regimes, part of the expenses may be hidden or allocated to other items.

The correct conclusion is this: the Visual Capitalist / Voronoi ranking is useful for comparing the defense burden on the economy, but it is not a ranking of military strength, aggressiveness, or the real ability of a country to wage war.