Brussels, 4 December 2024
The European Defence Agency (EDA) has published its annual Defence Data report for 2023, detailing defence spending from all 27 EU Member States. At a record €279 billion [1], 2023 European defence spending increased by 10% on the previous year, marking the ninth year of consecutive growth. Twenty-two of the Member States increased defence expenditure, with 11 increasing spending by over 10%.
2024 Forecast
Separately, the Coordinated Annual Review on Defence (CARD) report, which provides an overview and analysis of the EU defence landscape for Member States, forecasts the following spending for 2024:
- EU defence spending is projected to reach €326 billion in 2024
- Defence investments are expected to hit a record 31% of total defence expenditure, with research and technology (R&T) spending increasing to €5 billion in 2024
- Procurement spending is seeing sustained growth and could increase beyond €90 billion in 2024
2023 European Defence spending – Key findings
The return of full-scale war to Europe and efforts by Member States to strengthen their military capabilities led to a noticeable jump in defence spending in 2023.
- A record €72 billion was allocated to defence investments accounting for 26% of total defence expenditure, the largest share recorded by EDA since data collection began in 2005. This allocation was overwhelmingly directed towards the procurement of new equipment, which increased by 19% on the previous year.
- In 2023, total funding for collaborative research and technology (R&T) projects initiated under the European Defence Fund (EDF), in calls 2021 and 2022, reached approximately €100 million for projects, marking the first year that the EDF had such a significant financial impact on the European defence landscape.
Chief Executive of the European Defence Agency Jiří Šedivý said:
“The European Union is making strides in defence investments, spurred by the urgency of the threats we face. Still, a large proportion is spent on off-the-shelf equipment from outside the EU, highlighting the need to fortify the European Defence Technological and Industrial Base. Buying together saves money, while developing assets together makes us more independent. I welcome rising research spending. But Europe lags behind the United States and China in defence research and technology investment. To secure Europe’s future, we must prioritise innovation and unity.”
Commitment to investment
The allocation of €72 billion of total defence expenditure to defence investment by Member States marks robust growth of 17%.
The agreed benchmark of 20% total expenditure in this area is surpassed for the fifth year running, reaching 26% across the EU. Twenty Member States reached this collectively agreed benchmark, with Luxembourg (59%), Estonia (49%), Finland (45%) and Poland (45%) having the highest allocation of their overall defence expenditure to investment.
Research spending slips
Despite increased spending dedicated to defence research and technology, Member States are still failing to reach the 2% benchmark of defence expenditure dedicated to R&T activities with two countries accounting for more than 80% of R&T spending at EU level. EU collaborative endeavours such as EDA’s ad hoc frameworks and funding via the EDF can collectively bring the EU closer to achieving the benchmark for defence spending allocated to R&T activities.
European Collaborative Defence R&T by funding source
Read the Report
Background
EDA collects defence data on an annual basis, and has done so since 2006, in line with the Agency’s Ministerial Steering Board Decision of November 2005. The Ministries of Defence of the Agency’s 27 Member States provide the data. EDA acts as its custodian and publishes the aggregated figures in its “Defence data” booklets and on its website. Datasets of MS are available since 2006 on the Defence Data Portal on EDA’s website.
[1] Figures are expressed in 2023 constant prices.
Source – EDA