Taiwan vs United Arab Emirates: Military spending

Taiwan
19.60 billion constant 2022 US$
in 2023
United Arab Emirates
24.89 billion constant 2022 US$
in 2020
Taiwan rank
20th
United Arab Emirates rank
19th

Military spending over time

  • Taiwan
  • United Arab Emirates
010.0B20.0B30.0B194919862023

How they compare

United Arab Emirates currently reports 24.89 billion constant 2022 US$ against 19.60 billion constant 2022 US$ in Taiwan, a difference of 5.28 billion constant 2022 US$.

That makes United Arab Emirates's figure about 1.3 times Taiwan's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 49 shared years of data; in 1971 it was Taiwan ahead.

Taiwan ranks 20th and United Arab Emirates ranks 19th of 172 countries.

Across the 6 decades both report, Taiwan averaged higher in 4 and United Arab Emirates in 2.

Head to head by decade

Decade Taiwan United Arab Emirates Difference Ahead
1970s 4.89 billion constant 2022 US$ 1.03 billion constant 2022 US$ 3.86 billion constant 2022 US$ Taiwan
1980s 10.82 billion constant 2022 US$ 4.23 billion constant 2022 US$ 6.59 billion constant 2022 US$ Taiwan
1990s 18.37 billion constant 2022 US$ 4.61 billion constant 2022 US$ 13.75 billion constant 2022 US$ Taiwan
2000s 12.00 billion constant 2022 US$ 8.64 billion constant 2022 US$ 3.36 billion constant 2022 US$ Taiwan
2010s 12.22 billion constant 2022 US$ 21.67 billion constant 2022 US$ 9.45 billion constant 2022 US$ United Arab Emirates
2020s 15.70 billion constant 2022 US$ 24.89 billion constant 2022 US$ 9.18 billion constant 2022 US$ United Arab Emirates

Averages of every year both report within each decade.

Frequently asked questions

Which has higher military spending, Taiwan or United Arab Emirates?
United Arab Emirates, at 24.89 billion constant 2022 US$ against 19.60 billion constant 2022 US$ in Taiwan as of 2020.
What is the difference in military spending between Taiwan and United Arab Emirates?
5.28 billion constant 2022 US$, with United Arab Emirates ahead.
How many years of comparable data are there for Taiwan and United Arab Emirates?
49 years are reported by both, from 1971 to 2020.
How do Taiwan and United Arab Emirates rank globally for military spending?
Taiwan ranks 20th and United Arab Emirates ranks 19th of 172 countries.
Where does this data come from?
Barnum et al. - Global Military Spending Dataset (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data, published as Military spending. Statizoid refreshes it automatically from the source and publishes the full history for both places.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Military spending
Unit
constant 2022 US$
Source
Barnum et al. - Global Military Spending Dataset (2025) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
172 places, 15,402 data points, 1816–2023
Last refreshed

This data is expressed in US dollars. It is adjusted for inflation but does not account for differences in the cost of living between countries.