Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) — Uzbekistan has emerged as the leader in military spending among Central Asian countries.

According to the 2025 Global Firepower report, the country’s defense budget amounted to US$2.8 billion.

Kazakhstan ranked second with a defense allocation of US$2 billion, while Turkmenistan directed US$1.1 billion toward its military needs.

The lowest military expenditures were recorded in Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan, which allocated US$221.8 million and US$446 million, respectively.

On a global scale, defense spending reached US$2.46 trillion in 2024, marking a US$220 billion increase from the previous year, according to the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS). The majority of these funds were spent by NATO countries, with the United States contributing nearly two-thirds of the alliance’s total budget.

The U.S. alone accounted for nearly half of the military expenditures of the world's 15 largest defense budgets, spending US$968 billion in 2024. China ranked second with a defense budget of US$235 billion, followed by Russia with US$145.9 billion.