South Korea

Military spending per person in South Korea

Military spending per person in South Korea: $181 in 1988 and $924 in 2025, by SIPRI estimates.

Latest, 2025
$924
Since 1988
+$743
Rank, 2025
25 of 151
counting from the highest

US dollars per person · SIPRI

Military spending per person in South KoreaMilitary spending per person in South Korea: $181 in 1988 and $924 in 2025, by SIPRI estimates. The highest was $980 in 2021, the lowest $181 in 1988.
Estimates, SIPRISIPRI estimate

What the numbers say

  • The highest was $980 in 2021, the lowest $181 in 1988.

Every year

US dollars per person · SIPRI

YearSouth Korea
2025$924
2024$920
2023$924
2022$895
2021$980
2020$890
2019$853
2018$835
2017$762
2016$721
2015$720
2014$747
2013$689
2012$647
2011$634
2010$579
2009$507
2008$540
2007$577
2006$525
2005$464
2004$375
2003$334
2002$299
2001$276
2000$296
1999$261
1998$227
1997$324
1996$361
1995$356
1994$300
1993$277
1992$261
1991$247
1990$231
1989$219
1988$181
  • Estimate

Good to know

  • What the country spends on its armed forces and defence for each person living there, in US dollars of each year, not adjusted for inflation.
  • Source: Information from the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI) Military Expenditure Database, https://doi.org/10.55163/CQGC9685.
  • Marked points are SIPRI’s own: a dot where it gives the figure as its estimate, a ring where it calls the figure highly uncertain.
  • Ranks count the 151 countries with a value in 2025, highest first.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time

South Korea in numbers

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