Defence: Expenditure
The question
To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, what comparative assessment he has made of the level of defence expenditure in (a) the UK and (b) Russia; and what recent assessment he has made of the adequacy of the Government's commitment to increase defence expenditure to 2.5% of GDP.
Answered by Luke Pollard
The UK currently spends 2.3% of GDP on defence, and the Government is committed to setting a pathway to 2.5% this Spring.
Russia's own public assessment forecast their military expenditure at over 7% of GDP in 2024, with some sources estimating that as much as 9% of Russian GDP is being spent on defence. However, the public figures almost certainly do not tell the full story about Russian expenditure or the true burden on the Russian economy.
These figures are not directly comparable as the UK follows NATO's definition of defence spending, Russia does not.
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