Defense took 3.0% of GDP and 13.1% of federal outlays in FY2025

Source. OMB Historical Tables, FY2027 edition (April 2026), Table 3.1 and Table 10.1. Fiscal years 1940–2025, with OMB estimates to 2031.

Method and data

Method. National defense as a percent of GDP and of total outlays as published in Table 3.1; veterans and international affairs are their Table 3.1 outlays divided by Table 10.1 GDP and by Table 3.1 total outlays. 2026–2031 are OMB’s estimates.

Fiscal year	Basis	Defense (% of GDP)	Veterans (% of GDP)	International (% of GDP)	Defense (% of outlays)	Veterans (% of outlays)	International (% of outlays)
1940	Actual	1.7	0.58	0.052	17.5	6.02	0.54
1941	Actual	5.5	0.482	0.125	47.1	4.1	1.06
1942	Actual	17.4	0.339	0.655	73	1.43	2.75
1943	Actual	36.1	0.15	0.697	84.9	0.35	1.64
1944	Actual	37	−0.059	0.678	86.7	−0.14	1.59
1945	Actual	36.6	0.049	0.845	89.5	0.12	2.06
1946	Actual	18.7	1.081	0.849	77.3	4.46	3.5
1947	Actual	5.4	2.656	2.424	37.1	18.39	16.79
1948	Actual	3.5	2.465	1.743	30.6	21.69	15.34
1949	Actual	4.8	2.387	2.189	33.9	16.99	15.58
1950	Actual	4.9	3.17	1.677	32.2	20.76	10.98
1951	Actual	7.2	1.69	1.115	51.8	12.14	8.01
1952	Actual	12.9	1.496	0.754	68.1	7.89	3.98
1953	Actual	13.8	1.183	0.555	69.4	5.94	2.78
1954	Actual	12.7	1.192	0.412	69.5	6.51	2.25
1955	Actual	10.5	1.151	0.547	62.4	6.83	3.25
1956	Actual	9.7	1.116	0.551	60.2	6.92	3.42
1957	Actual	9.8	1.08	0.679	59.3	6.54	4.11
1958	Actual	9.9	1.13	0.71	56.8	6.49	4.08
1959	Actual	9.7	1.079	0.623	53.2	5.91	3.41
1960	Actual	9	1.018	0.559	52.2	5.9	3.24
1961	Actual	9.1	1.044	0.583	50.8	5.84	3.26
1962	Actual	8.9	0.961	0.963	49	5.27	5.28
1963	Actual	8.6	0.893	0.859	48	4.96	4.77
1964	Actual	8.3	0.859	0.747	46.2	4.79	4.17
1965	Actual	7.1	0.807	0.743	42.8	4.84	4.46
1966	Actual	7.4	0.759	0.715	43.2	4.4	4.15
1967	Actual	8.5	0.806	0.665	45.4	4.28	3.53
1968	Actual	9.1	0.785	0.591	46	3.95	2.98
1969	Actual	8.4	0.78	0.469	44.9	4.16	2.5
1970	Actual	7.8	0.829	0.414	41.8	4.44	2.21
1971	Actual	7.1	0.876	0.372	37.5	4.65	1.98
1972	Actual	6.5	0.882	0.393	34.3	4.65	2.07
1973	Actual	5.7	0.888	0.307	31.2	4.89	1.69
1974	Actual	5.4	0.903	0.385	29.5	4.97	2.12
1975	Actual	5.4	1.033	0.442	26	4.99	2.14
1976	Actual	5	1.032	0.36	24.1	4.96	1.73
1977	Actual	4.8	0.891	0.314	23.8	4.41	1.55
1978	Actual	4.6	0.835	0.329	22.8	4.14	1.63
1979	Actual	4.5	0.777	0.291	23.1	3.95	1.48
1980	Actual	4.8	0.759	0.455	22.7	3.58	2.15
1981	Actual	5	0.734	0.418	23.2	3.39	1.93
1982	Actual	5.6	0.723	0.371	24.8	3.21	1.65
1983	Actual	5.9	0.703	0.335	26	3.07	1.47
1984	Actual	5.8	0.648	0.402	26.7	3.01	1.86
1985	Actual	5.9	0.616	0.379	26.7	2.78	1.71
1986	Actual	6	0.582	0.313	27.6	2.66	1.43
1987	Actual	5.9	0.561	0.244	28.1	2.67	1.16
1988	Actual	5.7	0.572	0.204	27.3	2.76	0.98
1989	Actual	5.5	0.541	0.173	26.5	2.63	0.84
1990	Actual	5.1	0.493	0.233	23.9	2.32	1.1
1991	Actual	4.5	0.514	0.26	20.6	2.37	1.2
1992	Actual	4.6	0.532	0.251	21.6	2.47	1.16
1993	Actual	4.3	0.527	0.254	20.7	2.53	1.22
1994	Actual	3.9	0.524	0.238	19.3	2.57	1.17
1995	Actual	3.6	0.501	0.217	17.9	2.5	1.08
1996	Actual	3.3	0.465	0.17	17	2.37	0.86
1997	Actual	3.2	0.465	0.18	16.9	2.46	0.95
1998	Actual	3	0.468	0.146	16.2	2.53	0.79
1999	Actual	2.9	0.456	0.161	16.1	2.54	0.9
2000	Actual	2.9	0.465	0.17	16.5	2.63	0.96
2001	Actual	2.9	0.428	0.157	16.4	2.42	0.88
2002	Actual	3.2	0.471	0.206	17.3	2.54	1.11
2003	Actual	3.6	0.504	0.188	18.7	2.63	0.98
2004	Actual	3.8	0.497	0.223	19.9	2.61	1.17
2005	Actual	3.9	0.546	0.269	20	2.84	1.4
2006	Actual	3.8	0.512	0.216	19.7	2.63	1.11
2007	Actual	3.9	0.509	0.199	20.2	2.67	1.04
2008	Actual	4.2	0.573	0.195	20.7	2.84	0.97
2009	Actual	4.6	0.66	0.259	18.8	2.72	1.07
2010	Actual	4.7	0.729	0.304	20.1	3.14	1.31
2011	Actual	4.6	0.823	0.295	19.6	3.53	1.27
2012	Actual	4.2	0.774	0.228	19.2	3.54	1.04
2013	Actual	3.8	0.833	0.278	18.3	4.02	1.34
2014	Actual	3.5	0.859	0.269	17.2	4.27	1.34
2015	Actual	3.2	0.88	0.286	16	4.33	1.41
2016	Actual	3.2	0.936	0.243	15.4	4.53	1.18
2017	Actual	3.1	0.911	0.239	15	4.43	1.16
2018	Actual	3.1	0.875	0.239	15.4	4.35	1.19
2019	Actual	3.2	0.939	0.249	15.4	4.49	1.19
2020	Actual	3.4	1.025	0.145	11.1	3.36	0.47
2021	Actual	3.3	1.017	0.196	11.1	3.43	0.66
2022	Actual	3	1.073	0.276	12.2	4.38	1.13
2023	Actual	3	1.101	0.23	13.4	4.92	1.03
2024	Actual	3	1.125	0.195	13	4.83	0.84
2025	Actual	3	1.244	0.149	13.1	5.38	0.64
2026	OMB estimate	3	1.372	0.186	12.8	5.84	0.79
2027	OMB estimate	3.6	1.407	0.185	14.9	5.87	0.77
2028	OMB estimate	3.7	1.535	0.161	15.7	6.46	0.68
2029	OMB estimate	3.6	1.409	0.154	15.5	6.09	0.66
2030	OMB estimate	3.4	1.465	0.134	15	6.4	0.58
2031	OMB estimate	3.3	1.459	0.123	14.8	6.48	0.55

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Higgins Strategy. “Defense took 3.0% of GDP and 13.1% of federal outlays in FY2025” Exhibit 2, Every Dollar of War (Study IX). October 12, 2026. https://higginsstrategy.com/charts/09-defense-veterans-international-shares-1940-2031/