Police Spending by Country 2024

Police spending involves allocating resources on local, county, state, and federal levels to law enforcement agencies. The goal is to provide these agencies with resources that allow them to protect and police the citizens of the areas in which they have jurisdiction. The funds can be used for anything from personnel costs and equipment or technology to training, administration costs, legal expenses, and more.

Currently, the country that has the highest police budget is the country of Costa Rica. The country spends around $1.5 billion to provide resources to its police force. That number is 2.5% of its GDP. However, while Costa Rica uses the highest portion of its GDP to pay for its police force, it is not the country that uses the most overall funds.

The United States, for example, spends $428.66 to fund its police department. That adds up to 2% of the country's overall GDP, which puts it in 3rd place in the GDP race. Like many other countries, police officers in the US are allowed to carry guns, which comes with some drawbacks. It is one of the few countries that openly tracks the number of police killings. Approximately 1,127 people are killed by the police every year in the United States.

Behind Costa Rica, it's Russia which is the second-highest country when it comes to police force funds in relation to the country's overall GDP. Russia spends $38.39 billion on the police, which is 2.26% of the country's GDP. One of the downsides of the Russian police force is that many of its citizens see the force as corrupt. The country is ranked 36th in police corruption.

New Zealand is also a country that spends a great deal on police funding. Approximately 1.92% of the country's GDP is spent to fund its police system, which comes to $3.97 billion. One difference between New Zealand and the others above them on the list is they are a country whose police officers do not carry guns.

Rounding out the top five countries that spend a great deal to fund the police is Chile. $5.4 billion is spent in Chile, which comes to 1.9% of the country's GDP. Unfortunately, many of the citizens of Chile also have a negative view of their police department. Many of those opinions stem from police abuse that was sustained during social reform protests.

Other countries that have high levels of police spending include China, the United Kingdom, Israel, Germany, and France.