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Top 10 Countries With the Highest Economic Cost of Violence
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Key Takeaways
- Afghanistan faced the greatest economic toll from violence in 2024, accounting for 41.6% of GDP.
- Ukraine followed closely behind, with costs such as military spending, conflict deaths, and infrastructure destruction reaching an estimated 40.1% of GDP.
In 2024, the economic impact of violence reached $20 trillion globally in purchasing power parity (PPP) terms.
Military spending and internal security costs accounted for 74% of the total, at a time of rising geopolitical fragmentation. The economic impact of refugees and GDP losses also climbed higher.
This graphic shows the countries with the greatest economic toll of violence, based on analysis from the Institute for Economics and Peace.
Ranked: The Top 10 Countries by Economic Cost of Violence
Below, we show the countries which faced the highest cost of violence as a share of GDP in 2024.
These figures include direct and indirect costs such as military spending, GDP losses, and the costs of conflict deaths. Estimates were calculated in PPP terms.
| Country | Economic Cost of Violence in 2024 (% of GDP) |
|---|---|
 Afghanistan |
41.6 |
 Ukraine |
40.9 |
 North Korea |
39.1 |
 Syria |
34.0 |
 Somalia |
24.7 |
 Central African Republic |
22.5 |
 Colombia |
19.7 |
 Palestinian Territories |
19.4 |
 Burkina Faso |
19.0 |
 Cyprus |
16.8 |
| Average (Top 10) | 27.8 |
Afghanistan ranks highest globally, largely driven by significant military expenditures and high costs associated with refugees.
While violence has fallen since the return of Taliban rule in 2021, Afghanistan has the third-highest military spending as a share of GDP in the world, at 15.1%. Meanwhile, the number of Afghani refugees stands at 5.8 million globally.
In Ukraine, the cost of violence stood at 40.9% of GDP last year. So far into the war, residential buildings have faced $60 billion in damage, while infrastructure and transportation have seen $38.5 billion in losses. Additionally, 260,000 private motor vehicles have been damaged or destroyed.
Meanwhile, Palestine ranks in eighth globally, with the economic cost of the war in Gaza equal to 19.4% of GDP. Following after Ukraine, it had the second-highest number of deaths globally in 2024.
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- Source: https://www.visualcapitalist.com/rcountries-with-the-highest-cost-of-violence-by-share-of-gdp/
