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Countries in Africa by military spending

Military expenditure as a share of GDP, from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: armed forces, defence ministries, military aid and the paramilitary forces trained for military operations. 50 countries in Africa, highest first. World Bank, mostly 2024

See it on the map
Map: Military spending — Africa
Highest
8.0%
Algeria
Median country
1.2%
half above, half below
Lowest
0.1%
Mauritius
#Country% of GDPYearRegion
1Algeria8.0%2024Northern Africa
2Libya5.3%2023Northern Africa
3Burkina Faso4.7%2024Western Africa
4Mali4.2%2024Western Africa
5Burundi3.8%2024Eastern Africa
6Morocco3.5%2024Northern Africa
7Chad3.0%2024Middle Africa
8Botswana2.8%2024Southern Africa
9Namibia2.7%2024Southern Africa
10Central African Republic2.5%2024Middle Africa
11Tunisia2.5%2024Northern Africa
12Niger2.2%2024Western Africa
13Mauritania2.2%2024Western Africa
14Guinea2.0%2024Western Africa
15Togo2.0%2024Western Africa
16Mozambique2.0%2024Eastern Africa
17South Sudan2.0%2024Eastern Africa
18Uganda1.9%2024Eastern Africa
19Somalia1.6%2024Eastern Africa
=20Lesotho1.6%2024Southern Africa
=20Senegal1.6%2024Western Africa
22Gabon1.5%2024Middle Africa
23Eswatini1.4%2024Southern Africa
24Zambia1.3%2024Eastern Africa
25Rwanda1.3%2024Eastern Africa
=26DR Congo1.2%2024Middle Africa
=26Guinea-Bissau1.2%2023Western Africa
28Congo1.2%2024Middle Africa
29Seychelles1.2%2024Eastern Africa
30Tanzania1.1%2024Eastern Africa
31Malawi1.0%2024Eastern Africa
32Cameroon1.0%2024Middle Africa
=33Angola1.0%2024Middle Africa
=33Kenya1.0%2024Eastern Africa
35Equatorial Guinea1.0%2024Middle Africa
36Sudan0.9%2021Northern Africa
37Côte d'Ivoire0.8%2024Western Africa
38Benin0.7%2024Western Africa
=39Liberia0.7%2024Western Africa
=39Madagascar0.7%2024Eastern Africa
41South Africa0.7%2024Southern Africa
42Egypt0.7%2024Northern Africa
43Ethiopia0.7%2024Eastern Africa
44Cabo Verde0.6%2024Western Africa
45Gambia0.6%2024Western Africa
46Nigeria0.6%2024Western Africa
47Sierra Leone0.5%2024Western Africa
48Ghana0.4%2024Western Africa
49Zimbabwe0.3%2024Eastern Africa
50Mauritius0.1%2024Eastern Africa

No World Bank figure for 4 countries: Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, São Tomé and Principe.

Questions

Which country in Africa has the highest military spending?
Algeria has the highest military spending in Africa: 8.0% of GDP (2024). Next come Libya (5.3% of GDP) and Burkina Faso (4.7% of GDP).
Which country in Africa has the lowest military spending?
Mauritius, with 0.1% of GDP (2024).
What is the typical military spending of a country in Africa?
The median of the 50 countries in Africa is 1.2% of GDP: half are above it, half below. The median, not the average, because a few countries at the top would drag an average far above almost everyone.
Where do the figures come from?
Military expenditure as a share of GDP, from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute: armed forces, defence ministries, military aid and the paramilitary forces trained for military operations. Source: World Bank, mostly 2024. Only independent states are ranked; territories are listed separately. A country’s continent follows Natural Earth; the handful of island states it files under the open ocean are placed by their UN subregion.

Source: World Bank (CC BY 4.0). Figures more than 5 years older than the newest are left out rather than shown beside current ones. Countries sharing a value share a rank. All sources.