As World Spends Record $2.7 Trillion on War, UN Report Pushes for 'Sustainable and Peaceful Future'

As global outrage over Israel's attack targeting Hamas ceasefire negotiators in Qatar began to mount on Tuesday, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres told reporters that the "breaking news underscores the importance of the report that we launch today."

In addition to condemning "this flagrant violation of the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Qatar," which "has been playing a very positive role to achieve a ceasefire and the release of all hostages" from Gaza, Guterres said that the attack "lays bare a stark reality: The world is spending far more on waging war than in building peace."

His comments came at the unveiling of The Security We Need: Rebalancing Military Spending for a Sustainable and Peaceful Future, which explores how the global increase in military expenditure is impacting the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN's 17 sweeping targets for 2030.

The ambitious SDGs include ending poverty and hunger, ensuring quality education and gender equality, reducing inequality, achieving affordable clean energy, taking bold climate action, and promoting peaceful and inclusive societies.

"As global insecurity intensifies and geopolitical rivalries deepen, global military spending has surged to unprecedented levels. In 2024, it reached an all-time high of $2.7 trillion, the report says, citing the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. "At the same time, progress on the Sustainable Development Goals is faltering. Only 1 in 5 targets is on track to be achieved by 2030; the annual financing gap for the goals now stands at $4 trillion."

Guterres on Tuesday put the global military expenditure for 2024 into context, pointing out that it is "the equivalent of $334 for every person on Earth," as well as "nearly 13 times the amount of official development assistance from the world's wealthiest nations—and 750 times the regular budget of the United Nations."

The new report "is a call to action. A call to rethink priorities. A call to rebalance global investments toward the security the world truly needs," the UN chief said, stressing that "the current trajectory is unsustainable," and "a better path is within reach."

"We need practical steps to rebalance," Guterres asserted. His report offers that in the form of a five-point agenda for UN member states and the international community:

• Prioritize diplomacy, peaceful settlement of disputes, and confidence-building measures to address the underlying causes of growing military expenditure through 2030;
• Bring military expenditure to the fore of disarmament discussions, and improve links between arms control and development;
• Promote transparency and accountability around military expenditure to build trust and confidence among member states and increase domestic fiscal accountability;
• Reinvigorate multilateral finance for development; and
• Advance a human-centered approach to security and sustainable development.

"Investing in people is investing in the first line of defense against violence in any society," Guterres said, highlighting how war spending is "crowding out essential investments in health, education, job creation, protecting people from droughts and floods, and expanding opportunities for women and young people."

"The evidence is clear: Excessive military spending does not guarantee peace," he continued. "It often undermines it—fueling arms races, deepening mistrust, and diverting resources from the very foundations of stability. A more secure world begins by investing at least as much in fighting poverty as we do in fighting wars."