15 Countries With Highest Defense Spending and Largest Military Budgets

14. UAE

Military Spending: $22.8 Billion 

We are continuing our list of countries with highest defense spending and largest military budgets with the United Arab Emirates spent $22.5 billion on its military in 2014, with data for the following years not available, according to SIPRI. Between 2007 and 2014, the country more than doubled its military spending, which also represented 5.7% of its GDP at the end of 2014, the second-highest among the 15 countries with the highest defense spending and largest military budgets, after Saudi Arabia. According to Reuters, the UAE and other gulf states don’t intend to cut their military spending because of low oil prices, since they need a high level of security. The UAE is also one of the top importers of major weapons.