African Countries With the Highest Military Spending (2024)

In recent years, many countries have been allocating their lion’s share of their annual budget to boost their military amid growing global insecurity. While major global powers like the United States, Russia, China, and Rwanda have been revamping their military infrastructure, many African countries have also seen an increase in financial allocation toward military budgeting.

While African countries are considerably dependent on foreign military equipment, majorly from the global superpowers, replacing their analog military infrastructure stimulated the move as a wave of tensions has recently been rocking within close African neighborhoods. However, much of the spending budget allocated by states covers equipment procurement, maintenance and pension remittances.

Algeria is the biggest military spender in Africa, with the global ranking at position 22 and followed closely by Morocco at position 29 globally. The top ten countries in Africa are also among the superpowers both militarily and economically, with the least spenders being among the poorest countries in the world. Many of these countries seek to protect their territorial integrity while increasing their capability ratings on the global map.