How much does the UK spend on defence?
PESA 2026 table 4.2 records UK defence spending of £65.4 billion in 2025-26. The printed label is “2. Defence(1)”. This is the defence function, not the Defence departmental group.
Financial-year outturn. Table 4.1 is the UK total, not a department. Table 4.2 is spending by function, not by the department names used from 2021-22. Plans after 2025-26 are omitted. Do not add these to calendar-year JW2O or to TES.
| Financial year | 2. Defence(1) |
|---|---|
| 2010-11 | £39.3 billion |
| 2011-12 | £38.7 billion |
| 2012-13 | £36.3 billion |
| 2013-14 | £36.4 billion |
| 2014-15 | £36.7 billion |
| 2015-16 | £36.6 billion |
| 2016-17 | £37.1 billion |
| 2017-18 | £38.7 billion |
| 2018-19 | £40.2 billion |
| 2019-20 | £42.2 billion |
| 2020-21 | £44.6 billion |
| 2021-22 | £48.7 billion |
| 2022-23 | £55.5 billion |
| 2023-24 | £56.8 billion |
| 2024-25 | £63.7 billion |
| 2025-26 | £65.4 billion |
Related
Provenance
- Source
- PESA 2026 table 4.2
- Dataset
- 2. Defence(1)
- Published
- Date not printed on this extract. The file is PESA 2026.
- Coverage
- 2010-11 to 2025-26. Function total for the UK, nominal £ billion.
- Last updated
- 24 September 2026 (2026-09-24T08:05:00Z)
- Not combined with incompatible series
- Not the departmental group of a similar name. Not TES added again. Not TME. This is the defence function, not the Defence departmental group.