File photo: The UN estimates that the reduction of a small part of the military funds could: bring every child in countries with low and lower middle income to school, ensure primary health care to millions of vulnerable communities, eliminating the malnutrition of children and helping financing climate adjustment in the developing world. | Photocredit: –
Worldwide military expenditures rose to an unprecedented $ 2.7 trillion in 2024, but these enormous expenses did not deliver near peace or stability, according to a grim new report from the United Nations.
Secretary-General António Guterres of the UN, who spoke during the launch of the report, criticized the growing arms race and said that excessive military expenditures “do not guarantee peace” and instead distract vital means from the most urgent human needs in the world.
“The world spends much more on waging war than building peace,” said Guterres, and emphasized that military budgets are now outweighing the efforts to fight poverty, improve education and to strengthen health care systems with a stunning margin.
While military budgets grew over all five worldwide regions in 2024, the steepest rise of the year on three decades mark the report that even a fraction of these spending could change the worldwide developing landscape dramatically.
For example, the UN estimates that the reduction of a small part of the military funds could: bring every child in countries with a low and lower income to school, ensure primary health care to millions of vulnerable communities, eliminating the malnutrition of children and helping financing climate adjustment in the developing world.
“The diversion of even a fraction of today’s military editions can close essential gaps – putting children at school, strengthening health care and protecting the most vulnerable,” emphasized Guterres.
The report also points to a disturbing contrast: the $ 2.7 trillion spent on soldiers is 750 times larger than the annual operational budget of the UN, and almost 13 times more than the total global development tools that are paid by OECD countries in 2024.
Experts say that the world is trapped in a vicious circle: economic instability, poverty and underdevelopment is burning violence, which in turn leads to more military investments – the further tap of resources of social and economic development.
UN displacement Chief Izumi Nakamitsu repeated the urgency of reinventing worldwide priorities.
“Restoring worldwide priorities is not optional – it is a necessity for the survival of humanity,” she said.
With only one of the 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) on the right track for performance by 2030, the report will insist on a fundamental shift in thinking – away from militarization and to diplomacy, cooperation and sustainable development.
“Investing in people invests in the first line of defense against violence in every society,” Guternes concluded and called for a new, people -oriented approach to global safety.
Published on September 10, 2025
#Global #military #expenses #rise #trillion #elusive #peace #warns