Military expenditure in South America

10 countries in South America, 2025. Unit: % of GDP. World ranking →

First in the ranking
3.2 %
Colombia
Median country
1.1 %
half above, half below
World
2.5 %
World Bank aggregate
Range
0.6 to 3.2
Argentina - Colombia

How to read it

Across 10 countries in South America, the highest value is in Colombia (3.2 %) and the lowest in Argentina (0.6 %).

The median country is at 1.1 %: half are above, half below.

Military expenditure by country as percentage of gross domestic product

Compare selected countries · on the world map

Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), uri: https://www.sipri.org/databases · via World Bank WDI (MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS) · licence

Military spending over time

%

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Ranking of countries

2025
In chart Share of the highest value
1Colombia3.2
2Uruguay2.3
3Ecuador2.1
4Chile1.5
5Bolivia1.2
6Brazil1.1
7Guyana1.0
8Paraguay0.9
9Peru0.8
10Argentina0.6
World Bank, WDI · MS.MIL.XPND.GD.ZS · 2025 · CC BY 4.0 Source and licence

Tick a country in the table to add it to the chart above, up to six at a time. The ranking uses the latest year for which at least half of the countries have a value; countries without a value that year are not listed.