Signal Military spending up 9.4% in a year, 2.5% of global GDP

Summary

This signal records a sharp jump in what the world spends on armed forces. Global military expenditure increased by 9.4% between 2023 and 2024, which UNDP identifies as the fastest annual growth since the Cold War came to an end. Military outlays now take up 2.5% of global GDP. UNDP places the rise within a broader inward turn driven by great-power rivalry and security anxieties, occurring while many OECD countries reduce development aid. The open question it raises is whether defence budgets will squeeze out aid, or whether spending on human security and climate can be presented as strategic security investment and so open new room for development.