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UK defence spending

This page is a short summary of the full PDF report UK defence spending.

How much does the UK spend on defence?

In the 2025/26 financial year, the UK spent £62.0 billion on defence. Under plans set out in the Defence Investment Plan, spending is expected to reach £79.1 billion in 2029/30.

Source: MOD, Defence departmental resources: 2025; MOD, Annual report and accounts 2025–26; MOD, The Defence Investment Plan Funding explainer; HM Treasury, GDP Deflators at market prices, June 2026 (Quarterly National Accounts)

Recent increases in defence funding have prioritised investment spending over day-to-day spending, with a larger share of the additional funding allocated to capital budgets. In 2025/26, the Ministry of Defence (MOD) had the largest capital budget of any government department. This trend is expected to continue in future years.

How has defence spending changed recently?

Real-terms defence spending fell by 22% between 2009/10 and 2016/17, from £61.5 billion to £48.0 billion (in 2025/26 prices). Since then, spending has generally increased and now stands above 2010 levels in real terms.

Source: MOD, Defence departmental resources: 2025; MOD, Annual report and accounts 2025–26; HM Treasury, GDP deflators at market prices, June 2026 (Quarterly National Accounts)

Historical defence spending

When looking at longer term trends, defence spending as a percentage of GDP had been falling for decades before stabilising in recent years, whereas real terms spending has fluctuated. This reflects GDP growing by more than defence spending.

Defence spending increased during the Cold War, reaching a peak in the mid-1980s, before declining as the Cold War came to an end. Spending increased again due to the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, before declining and then increasing again in line with recent spending commitments. In real terms, defence spending is now at its highest level since the start of this historical series, beginning in the mid-1950s.

Commitments to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP and above

When defence spending targets are discussed as a percentage of GDP, this usually relates to spending that meets the NATO definition of defence expenditure, rather than total departmental expenditure by the MOD. The NATO definition is a broader measure of defence spending than MOD expenditure, meaning NATO figures are higher than the departmental spending figures.

As a member of NATO, the UK is committed to spending at least 2% of GDP on defence expenditure that meets NATO’s definition each year. All member states except Slovenia are expected to meet or exceed the 2% spending target in 2026. This is up from three members in 2014. The latest NATO estimates show that the UK spent 2.3% of GDP on defence in 2025 and that it is expected to spend 2.6% in 2026.

In February 2025 the government committed to increase defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2027 (according to the NATO definition), or 2.6% of GDP when including additional elements of security and intelligence spending, and to spend 3% of GDP in the next Parliament. It has since further committed to increasing spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, in line with a new NATO target.

The Sunak Conservative government had committed to increasing defence spending to 2.5% of GDP by 2030.

Source: NATO, Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014-2026), Table 3

Local area data

It is not possible to identify the amount of defence spending that goes to different parts of the country. This is because defence spending is an area of public spending considered to be ‘non-identifiable’. Non-identifiable spending is spending that is incurred on behalf of the UK, and which therefore cannot be identified as benefiting a particular country or region.

The government publishes statistics on MOD regional expenditure with industry. However, defence expenditure with industry only represents a portion of total defence expenditure in a region.

Further reading

The Commons Library briefing Defence Investment Plan: Key decisions provides an overview of the key decisions for defence spending over the next four years to 2029/30.

Details of MOD spending are published in its annual reports and accounts. Information on spending over time can be found in the annual defence departmental resources publication.

NATO collects and publishes defence expenditure data from its member countries.