Fenella McGerty
Asian defence spending will continue to grow in 2024, but China still outpaces the rest of the region.
According to Military Balance+ data, regional defence expenditure will increase by 4.2% in real terms in 2024 as countries work to overcome economic and fiscal constraints to maintain uplifts to defence spending.
Beyond China, the increases are largely driven by the region’s more mature, lower growth economies like Australia, Japan and South Korea, as they continue to adjust their perceptions of the security environment and the challenges they face, particularly those that China and North Korea present. However, despite three consecutive years of strong real defence-spending growth in the rest of the region, China’s share of overall spending continues to increase, from 38% in 2014 to 44% this year.
China’s 2024 defence budget reached RMB1.665 trillion (USD236 billion), compared to an estimated USD298bn spent by all other countries in Asia this year. The Chinese budget increased by over 7% in nominal terms, with 2024 marking the 30th consecutive year it has risen. As a proportion of GDP, the core Chinese defence budget amounts to 1.27%, well below the global average of 1.8% and indeed the 2% target for NATO countries.
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