Defense spending as share of GDP in the UK 1980-2024
In 2024, the United Kingdom's defence spending as a share of Gross Domestic Product is estimated to be 2.3 percent. Between 1980 and 2024, the UK's defence spending was at its highest in 1984 when 5.5 percent of the UK's GDP was spent on the military. After 1984, defence spending declined gradually, and then at a much faster pace after the end of the Cold War in 1991. It is estimated that defence spending as a share of GDP fell to its lowest level in 2015 when it was two percent.
Armed forces fall to record lows in 2024
Since the early 1950s, there has been a consistent reduction in the size of the UK's armed forces. The importance of Britain maintaining a large standing army declined following the collapse of the British Empire by the late 1970s, and the end of the Cold War around a decade later. At the start of the 1990s, there were approximately 300,000 personnel in the armed forces, with this falling to 200,000 by 2005. Following a further strategic review of the army's capabilities in 2010, additional cuts to personnel were implemented, with cuts of approximately 50,000 throughout the 2010s. As of 2024, there were 75,320 personnel in the Army, 30,800 in the Royal Air Force, and 32,000 in the Royal Navy and Marines, a total of 138,120 active personnel.
The UK and NATO
The UK is one of the 12 founding members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), a military alliance formed in 1949. NATO's initial purpose was to defend Western Europe against the Soviet Union, with its role evolving to include peacekeeping and counter-terrorism after the end of the Cold War. As of 2024, the alliance includes 32 nations, with just two of these (Canada and the United States) outside of Europe. The United States is by far the largest military power in the alliance, dominating in terms of manpower, equipment, and military spending. A return of Donald Trump to the White House in 2025, a well-known skeptic of NATO, could therefore prove difficult for the alliance should he distance the U.S. from Europe's security challenges.
