Syrian Arab Republic vs Yemen: Military spending as a share of GDP

Syrian Arab Republic
10.7%
in 2016
Yemen
8.6%
in 2016
Syrian Arab Republic rank
1st
Yemen rank
2nd

Military spending as a share of GDP over time

  • Syrian Arab Republic
  • Yemen
0102030192619712016

How they compare

Syrian Arab Republic currently reports 10.7% against 8.6% in Yemen, a difference of 2.1%.

That makes Syrian Arab Republic's figure about 1.2 times Yemen's.

The two have swapped places 4 times across 69 shared years of data; in 1946 it was Syrian Arab Republic ahead.

Syrian Arab Republic ranks 1st and Yemen ranks 2nd of 172 countries.

Across the 8 decades both report, Syrian Arab Republic averaged higher in 7 and Yemen in 1.

Head to head by decade

Decade Syrian Arab Republic Yemen Difference Ahead
1940s 2.9% 1.9% 1.1% Syrian Arab Republic
1950s 4.0% 1.5% 2.5% Syrian Arab Republic
1960s 7.3% 1.6% 5.7% Syrian Arab Republic
1970s 12.0% 2.9% 9.1% Syrian Arab Republic
1980s 21.7% 7.4% 14.3% Syrian Arab Republic
1990s 10.7% 8.8% 1.9% Syrian Arab Republic
2000s 3.8% 3.9% 0.1% Yemen
2010s 7.6% 5.7% 1.9% Syrian Arab Republic

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher military spending as a share of gdp, Syrian Arab Republic or Yemen?
Syrian Arab Republic, at 10.7% against 8.6% in Yemen as of 2016.
What is the difference in military spending as a share of gdp between Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen?
2.1%, with Syrian Arab Republic ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen?
69 years are reported by both, from 1946 to 2016.
How do Syrian Arab Republic and Yemen rank globally for military spending as a share of gdp?
Syrian Arab Republic ranks 1st and Yemen ranks 2nd 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

Syrian Arab Republic vs Yemen: 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 12 September 2026, from https://economy.statizoid.com/compare/military-spending-as-a-share-of-gdp-gmsd/syrian-arab-republic/yemen-rep/

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/syrian-arab-republic/yemen-rep/">Syrian Arab Republic vs Yemen: Military spending as a share of GDP</a> — 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).