Peaceful World

The True Cost of War

2025 DATA · AVERAGE RATE
In 2025, the world spent an average of — on the military every second.

See the scale of world military spending and the human toll of war — and how that spending compares with the cost of major development needs.

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Military expenditure
MILITARY SPENDING PER PERSON
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A world average for the selected period; an arithmetic indicator, not a payment made by an individual.
DIRECT DEATHS · UCDP 2025 BASELINE
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Indirect deaths
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Assumption-based estimates

These three figures are based on model assumptions, not recorded data. They suggest the possible scale of wider consequences; each assumption is explained under ⓘ.

Infrastructure damage
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Years of life lost
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TOTAL ECONOMIC LOSSES
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What the same resources could support

Choose a share of 2025 military spending. 2× means twice the benchmark, 0.5× half; ≥ means “at least”. This compares scale — it is not a plan to move money.

Selected share of 2025 world military spending 10%
5% → 25% → 50%
Share used for comparison—
Remaining share of military spending—

NEW CHAPTER · INVESTING IN PEACE

How much do we invest in preventing war?

Military spending is tracked every year. But how much do we invest in preventing violence? Here is one documented example.

REVIEW PREVIEW · NOT PUBLISHED

ONE UN FUND · A SCALE COMPARISON

23 minutes

At the average 2025 military-spending rate, this is the calculated equivalent of everything approved by the UN Peacebuilding Fund that year.

$124 million UN Peacebuilding Fund projects approved in 2025. Not actual disbursements or all global spending on peace.

FROM UNDERSTANDING TO ACTION

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What is being compared? Sources and limits

UN Peacebuilding Fund: $124,027,266.98 in funding approved during 2025 for 48 initiatives in 28 countries (UN Secretary-General’s report A/80/651, published 23 February 2026). Approvals are neither actual disbursements nor all global conflict-prevention investment.

SIPRI: world military expenditure in 2025 was $2.887 trillion (current US dollars). Formula: PBF approved amount ÷ annual world military expenditure × 365.25 × 24 × 60; yielding 22.60 minutes, rounded to 23. This compares different accounting categories: project approvals and annual expenditure, not observed transactions over 23 minutes.

Donating to a peace education organisation does not itself demonstrate that a particular conflict has been prevented. Outcomes require separate evaluation.

UN Report A/80/651 · SIPRI 2025

COMPARING FINANCIAL SCALES

Military spending —how many years of peace education funding?

Choose a military spending example and compare its scale with the hypothetical annual budget of a small peace education organisation.

INTERACTIVE PREVIEW · NOT PUBLISHED

1 · Choose a spending example

Missile unit cost · FY2026 USD

$3.64M

Tomahawk Block V

Approximate unit cost from the U.S. Navy (NAVAIR). Not a complete lifecycle cost.

2 · Years of peace education funding

≈ 73 yearsof funding

At a hypothetical annual budget of $50,000.

Illustrative annual budget, USD

These are hypothetical figures, not reported budgets of Peaceful World or other organisations.

These are financial equivalents only. Military systems and peace education do not serve the same purpose.

How is this calculated? Sources and limits

Calculation: $3.64M ÷ $50,000/year = 72.8 years (rounded to 73).

NAVAIR lists an approximate $3.64m unit cost for Tomahawk Block V in FY2026 dollars, excluding full lifecycle costs.

These examples use a constant hypothetical annual budget. The result is rounded to years, or to months when less than one year. This is not a prediction of an organisation's lifespan. Source years and accounting definitions differ; inflation and future nonprofit expenses are not modelled.

Financial equivalence does not demonstrate the effects of peace education, lives saved or the practical ability to move military spending directly into an education programme.

Primary source for the selected example

SHARE THE DATA

Save a short summary or a ready-to-share card. The figures are accompanied by sources and notes explaining the calculations.

data/model.json SIPRI · UCDP
Military expenditure—
Direct deaths—

This preview still reproduces the legacy baseline. The evidence-aware v2 research candidate is intentionally not connected to runtime yet.