China vs Republic of Korea: Military spending as a share of GDP
China
2.3%
in 2019
Republic of Korea
2.4%
in 2019
China rank
32nd
Republic of Korea rank
30th
Military spending as a share of GDP over time
- China
- Republic of Korea
How they compare
Republic of Korea currently reports 2.4% against 2.3% in China, a difference of 0.1%.
The two have swapped places 5 times across 71 shared years of data; in 1949 it was China ahead.
China ranks 32nd and Republic of Korea ranks 30th of 172 countries.
Across the 8 decades both report, China averaged higher in 5 and Republic of Korea in 3.
Head to head by decade
| Decade | China | Republic of Korea | Difference | Ahead |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1940s | 8.6% | 0.5% | 8.1% | China |
| 1950s | 9.7% | 2.4% | 7.4% | China |
| 1960s | 17.6% | 2.2% | 15.4% | China |
| 1970s | 16.9% | 2.7% | 14.2% | China |
| 1980s | 4.8% | 3.5% | 1.3% | China |
| 1990s | 2.1% | 2.6% | 0.4% | Republic of Korea |
| 2000s | 1.7% | 1.8% | 0.1% | Republic of Korea |
| 2010s | 1.8% | 2.1% | 0.3% | Republic of Korea |
Averages of every year both report within each decade.
Frequently asked questions
- Which has higher military spending as a share of gdp, China or Republic of Korea?
- Republic of Korea, at 2.4% against 2.3% in China as of 2019.
- What is the difference in military spending as a share of gdp between China and Republic of Korea?
- 0.1%, with Republic of Korea ahead.
- How many years of comparable data are there for China and Republic of Korea?
- 71 years are reported by both, from 1949 to 2019.
- How do China and Republic of Korea rank globally for military spending as a share of gdp?
- China ranks 32nd and Republic of Korea ranks 30th of 172 countries.
- Where does this data come from?
- Barnum et al. - Global Military Spending Dataset (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Military spending as a share of GDP. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.
Individual pages
About this data
Military spending measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).