Military Expenditure and its Impact on Sustainable Development

In partnership with the Ban Ki-moon Centre for Global Citizens, the UN Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) organised a hybrid Vienna Conversation Series event on 29 September in the Vienna International Centre, and online, to engage the Vienna-based community in an exchange on the findings and recommendations of the Secretary-General’s Study, “The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future”, and to explore pathways for collective engagement in taking forward the recommendations therein. Global military spending continues to surge. In 2024, estimated global military expenditure rose for the 10th consecutive year, reaching $2.7 trillion - an increase of 9.4% and the steepest year-on-year increase since at least 1988.  Following the Pact for the Future, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General to “provide analysis on the impact of the global increase in military expenditure on the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals by the end of the seventy-ninth session”. Published in September 2025, the report is the result of extensive consultations and comprehensive research into the impact of military expenditure on various dimensions of development, including key areas such as healthcare, education, economic growth, employment, gender equality, innovation, environmental sustainability and peace.