Ukrainian soldiers test drones in Donetsk, Febuary 2025.Credit: Serhii Mykhalchuk/Global Images Ukraine via Getty
Military budgets are growing, especially in larger economies. In 2024, global military spending totalled U$2.7 trillion1, a 9.4% increase in real terms over the previous year, according to the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), a think tank specializing in conflict, peace and weapons. Just two countries, China and the United States, accounted for almost half of the total.
At their two-day summit in June 2025, all but one of the 32 North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) member countries agreed to spend 5% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defence and security by 2035, in response to “profound security threats and challenges” — chiefly perceived threats from Russia and from terrorism. If achieved, this would be an enormous escalation in spending. UK military expenditure of 5% of GDP would amount to half of what the country spends on its National Health Service2 (NHS).
But nations have considerable leeway to decide what falls under this umbrella, which can include research and development (R&D) funding. Spain, for example, which opted out of the 5% target, has called for a broader view of defence spending, to encompass areas such as quantum computing.
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What impact, if any, will defence-spending pledges have on research budgets? Some scholars who work on science funding, defence and peace, such as Lucy Suchman, a technology-focused sociologist at Lancaster University, UK, say that certain scientific fields could benefit (such as artificial intelligence) but others lose out (such as climate science) as funding priorities shift increasingly towards militarization.
One study of 183 countries between 1989 and 2022 found that higher defence spending was associated with fewer trademark applications and fewer people working on R&D3. In many countries, increased government spending on defence exists alongside lowered spending on other research. In the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries, public R&D spending on health declined by 11.5% from 2020 to 2024, while spending on defence R&D rose by 17%4. Government spending in the OECD on ‘general advancement of knowledge’ has also started to decline.
Nature’s careers team spoke to more than ten researchers working on science, peace and defence. They highlighted five interrelated themes that demonstrate changes to science — and to the careers researchers might expect to have — that could ensue in a more militarized world.
More nationalism, less collaboration
Evidence suggests that admitting more international graduate students leads to economic benefits, yet Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia are among those countries making it harder for international students to secure visas. China and the United States generate more influential research when they collaborate than when they do not, yet this collaboration is declining5. Overall, immigration controls, data-access restrictions and a focus on security are creating a more restricted environment for science.
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