Military expenditure in the EU 2001-2023, by function

Countries in the European Union spent the vast majority of their national defense budgets on military defense, with this being a consistent trend over the entire period from 2001 up to the present period. The monetary value of defense spending in the EU has risen consistently over this period, from a little over 113 billion Euros in 2001, to approximately 227 billion in 2023. The second-largest function of defense expenditure was foreign military aid, due to the continuous military support of Ukraine, with 23.5 billion euros in 2023. This amount still falls far below the guideline target from NATO and the European Defense Agency of two percent of GDP annually.