Armenia and Azerbaijan ranked among the world’s top ten countries with the highest military burden in 2025, according to an April 2026 report by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
According to the analysis, military expenditure as a share of GDP in both countries significantly exceeded the global average of 2.5% in 2025. Azerbaijan ranked 6th with 6.5%, while Armenia followed in 7th place with 6.1%, Haqqin.az reports.
SIPRI analysts also noted that Azerbaijan was among the countries with the most notable annual increases in military burden, rising by 1.4 percentage points.
Globally, the report highlights that the level of militarization in the South Caucasus is comparable to active conflict zones and regions traditionally characterized by high defense spending. For comparison, the top five countries in 2025 were Ukraine (40%), Algeria (8.8%), Israel (7.8%), Russia (7.5%), and Saudi Arabia (6.5%).
Experts link the rise in defense spending in the region to ongoing military modernization efforts and the need to strengthen national security amid broader geopolitical instability.
Globally, military spending reached $2.887 trillion in 2025, with more than half attributed to three countries: the United States, China, and Russia. Defense expenditures have now grown for 11 consecutive years, while their share of global GDP reached 2.5%, the highest level since 2009.
