Fifteen years after NATO’s intervention plunged Libya into prolonged instability, North Africa is witnessing a new military build-up led by Algeria and Morocco, which spent a combined $31.7 billion on defence in 2025 as they expanded rival fighter-jet programmes backed by Russia and the United States.
Algeria accounted for most of the spending, with its military budget rising 11% to $25.4 billion in 2025, the highest in Africa, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.
The outlay was equivalent to 8.8% of gross domestic product and about a quarter of total government expenditure.
On both measures, Algeria ranked second only to war-torn Ukraine and, notably, spent a larger share of GDP on its military than Israel, which allocated 7.8%.
Morocco, meanwhile, increased military spending by 6.6% to $6.3 billion, equivalent to about 3.5% of GDP and nearly twice South Africa’s $3.2 billion defence budget and three times Nigeria’s $2.1 billion expenditure, despite both economies being larger.
