MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency
Sunday, May 17th 2026 - 13:48 UTC
The most striking data point in the region corresponds to Uruguay, which moved to a military budget of USD 577.2 million in 2025, an increase of nearly 80% in five years.
Brazil consolidated its position as South America's leading defense spender during 2025, with a military budget of approximately USD 23.9 billion and a 13% year-on-year increase, while Uruguay recorded one of the steepest relative rises in the region, according to the annual report of the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) released on Saturday. The region as a whole increased its military spending by 3.4% compared with 2024, in line with a global trend of armed forces modernization, open conflicts, and growing geopolitical tensions.
Globally, military spending reached USD 2.887 trillion in 2025, the eleventh consecutive year of growth. The United States, China, and Russia together concentrated more than half of worldwide investment, a distribution that reflects the weight of the war by the United States and Israel against Iran, the protracted conflict in Ukraine, and the accelerating technological and nuclear race in the Indo-Pacific. SIPRI attributes the sustained rise to re-equipment programs, defense industrial development, and modernization of capabilities across various regions of the world.
