Russia’s defence spending is not 43% of its GDP

In an interview with The House Magazine published earlier this month, Conservative MP Lincoln Jopp suggested Russia spends 43% of its GDP on defence.

While discussing the UK’s plans for defence spending to reach 2.5% of GDP, Mr Jopp was asked if the UK’s proportion of GDP spent on defence should be in “double figures”. He responded: “No, not yet. But it’s worth noting that Russia is at 43 per cent, and we’re arguing over 2.36 to 2.5.”

It’s not clear what this claim is based on— we asked Mr Jopp for a source for his claim, and did not receive a reply. But we’ve not been able to find any evidence to support it.

While precise estimates vary, think tanks have put the figure for 2024 at either 6.7% or 7.1%.

Politicians should provide evidence for claims they make, and if an MP is quoted making a false or misleading claim in the media they should take responsibility for informing the publication of their error so it can take appropriate steps to correct this.

How much does Russia spend on defence?

According to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Russia’s military expenditure was estimated to be 7.1% of its GDP in 2024 (around $149 billion, and the equivalent of 19% of government spending that year), compared to 2.3% for the UK.

SIPRI’s figures suggest Ukraine was the country with the highest proportion of GDP spent on military expenditure, at 34%.

The International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS) has produced slightly different figures for Russia’s defence expenditure in 2024. It estimated that in 2024 Russian military expenditure was $145.9 billion—6.7% of its GDP.

In September 2024, Reuters reported that defence spending would be 6.3% of Russia’s GDP in 2025, based on draft budget documents, while in February the IISS forecast that Russia’s defence spending would reach 7.5% of its GDP this year. In April, SIPRI estimated national defence spending in the Russian federal budget would be 6.1% of its GDP in 2025, and its total military expenditure would be 7.2%.

Given these estimates, we’re not sure where the 43% figure comes from.

It’s worth noting that Ukraine’s military spending of $64.7 billion in 2024 was equivalent to 43% of Russia’s $149 billion, as noted by SIPRI. There have also been reports that the Russian Duma’s approved budget for 2025 means that combined spending on national defence and internal security will be the equivalent of 43% of the government budget. Neither of these figures however are comparable to the UK’s target for defence spending to reach 2.5% of GDP.