Spain vs Sweden: Military spending as a share of GDP

Spain
0.8%
in 2019
Sweden
0.8%
in 2019
Spain rank
128th
Sweden rank
131st

Military spending as a share of GDP over time

  • Spain
  • Sweden
01234181619172019

How they compare

Spain currently reports 0.8% against 0.8% in Sweden, a difference of 0.0%.

The two have swapped places 10 times across 204 shared years of data; in 1816 it was Spain ahead.

Spain ranks 128th and Sweden ranks 131st of 172 countries.

Across the 21 decades both report, Spain averaged higher in 8 and Sweden in 13.

Head to head by decade

Decade Spain Sweden Difference Ahead
1810s 1.9% 1.1% 0.8% Spain
1820s 0.9% 1.3% 0.4% Sweden
1830s 0.6% 1.5% 0.9% Sweden
1840s 1.0% 1.4% 0.5% Sweden
1850s 1.4% 1.1% 0.3% Spain
1860s 1.3% 1.0% 0.3% Spain
1870s 1.5% 0.9% 0.6% Spain
1880s 1.3% 1.2% 0.1% Spain
1890s 1.2% 1.4% 0.3% Sweden
1900s 1.0% 1.9% 0.9% Sweden
1910s 2.0% 1.6% 0.4% Spain
1920s 1.8% 1.1% 0.7% Spain
1930s 1.2% 1.0% 0.1% Spain
1940s 1.2% 3.1% 1.9% Sweden
1950s 0.8% 2.6% 1.8% Sweden
1960s 0.7% 2.4% 1.8% Sweden
1970s 1.1% 2.4% 1.3% Sweden
1980s 1.4% 2.0% 0.6% Sweden
1990s 1.1% 1.7% 0.5% Sweden
2000s 0.9% 1.1% 0.1% Sweden
2010s 0.8% 0.8% 0.0% Sweden

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher military spending as a share of gdp, Spain or Sweden?
Spain, at 0.8% against 0.8% in Sweden as of 2019.
What is the difference in military spending as a share of gdp between Spain and Sweden?
0.0%, with Spain ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Spain and Sweden?
204 years are reported by both, from 1816 to 2019.
How do Spain and Sweden rank globally for military spending as a share of gdp?
Spain ranks 128th and Sweden ranks 131st 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

Share, cite or embed this page

Cite this page

Spain vs Sweden: Military spending as a share of GDP. Statizoid, drawing on Barnum et al. - Global Military Spending Dataset (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data. Retrieved 04 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/military-spending-as-a-share-of-gdp-gmsd/spain/sweden/

Embed or link this data

Paste this into a page to link back to these figures. The data itself is free to reuse under CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data); please keep the attribution.

<a href="https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/military-spending-as-a-share-of-gdp-gmsd/spain/sweden/">Spain vs Sweden: Military spending as a share of GDP</a> β€” Statizoid

About this data

Indicator
Military spending as a share of GDP
Unit
% of GDP
Source
Barnum et al. - Global Military Spending Dataset (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
172 places, 14,793 data points, 1816–2019
Last refreshed

Military spending measured as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP).