Military production during World War II was a critical component to military performance during WWII. Over the course of the war, the Allied countries outproduced the Axis countries in most categories of weapons.

Gross domestic product (GDP)

This table shows the relationships in Gross domestic product (GDP), between a selection of Allied and Axis countries, from 1938 to 1945, counted in billion international dollars and 1990 prices.

Country 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945
Austria 24 27 27 29 27 28 29 12
France 186 199 164 130 116 110 93 101
Germany 351 384 387 412 417 426 437 310
Italy 141 151 147 144 145 137 117 92
Japan 169 184 192 196 197 194 189 144
Soviet Union 359 366 417 359 274 305 362 343
UK 284 287 316 344 353 361 346 331
USA 800 869 943 1 094 1 235 1 399 1 499 1 474
Allied Total: 1 629 1 600 1 331 1 596 1 862 2 065 2 363 2 341
Axis Total: 685 746 845 911 902 895 826 466
Allied/Axis GDP: 2.38 2.15 1.58 1.75 2.06 2.31 2.86 5.02

Notes on the table (remember that the distribution values are rough estimates):

  1. ^ France-Axis distribution: 1940: 56%, 1941-43: 100%, 1944: 58%.
  2. ^ Italy distribution: 1938-1943: 100% Axis, 1944-1945: 100% Allies
  3. ^ Japanese values are included in Axis totals for all years in order to illustrate potential contribution
  4. ^ Soviet Union-Allies distribution: 1939: Only 67% due to the pact with Germany, but none to Axis. During 1940 Soviet Union is not counted at all. 1941: 44% is distributed to the Allies (after Operation Barbarossa), 1942-1945: 100%.
  5. ^ US values are included in Allied totals for all years in order to illustrate potential contribution & Lend-Lease
  6. ^ The Allied total is not the immediate sum of the table values; see the distribution rules used above.
  7. ^ The Axis total is not the immediate sum of the table values; see the distribution rules used above.
  8. ^ Allied/Axis GDP: This row shows the relation in GDP between the Allies and the Axis; i.e. 2.00 means the Allied production was 2 times larger than the Axis. Please note that only a selection of countries are included in the table. The distribution of values into alliances is described in the previous notes.

Table data source: Harrison, Mark, "The Economics of World War II: Six Great Powers in International Comparison", Cambridge University Press (1998).

Summary of production


System Allies Axis
Tanks and SP guns 227,235 52,345
Artillery 914,682 180,141
Mortars 657,318 100,000+
Machineguns 4,744,484 1,058,863
Military trucks 3,060,354 594,859
Military aircraft total 633,072 278,795
Fighter aircraft 212,459 90,684
Attack aircraft 37,549 12,539
Bomber aircraft 153,615 35,415
Reconnaissance aircraft 7,885 13,033
Transport aircraft 43,045 5,657
Training aircraft 93,578 28,516
Aircraft carriers 155 16
Battleships 13 7
Cruisers 82 15
Destroyers 814 86
Convoy escorts 1,102 -
Submarines 422 1,336
Merchant shipping tonnage 33,993,230 5,000,000+
Other:

Pillboxes, bunkers (steel, concrete - uk only) 72,128,141 tonnes 132,685,348 tonnes
Estimate Concrete runways 10,000,000 tonnes

Note that most Battleships and Cruisers were produced before the war and many served through its entirety.

Vehicles and ground weapons production during World War II

Country Total tanks and self-propelled guns Tanks and self-propelled guns Artillery Mortars Machineguns Military trucks
Soviet Union 105,251 92,595 516,648 200,300 1,477,400 197,100
United States 88,410 71,067 257,390 105,055 2,679,840 2,382,311
United Kingdom 27,896
124,877 102,950 297,336 480,943
Canada 5,678 2150 10,552
251,925 815,729
Other Commonwealth

5,215 46,014 37,983
Germany 67,429 43,920 159,147 73,484 674,280 345,914
Japan 2,515
13,350
380,000 165,945
Italy 2,473
7,200

83,000
Hungary 500
447
4,583

Aircraft production during World War II

Country Military aircraft of all types Fighter aircraft Attack aircraft Bomber aircraft Transport aircraft Training aircraft
Soviet Union 157,261 63,087 37,549 21,116 17,332 4,061
United States 324,750 99,950
97,810 23,929 57,623
United Kingdom 131,549 49,422
34,689 1,784 31,864
Canada 16,431 1740



France 4,016 1,597 280 712

Other Commonwealth 3,081




Germany 119,307 55,727 12,539 18,449 3,079 11,546
Japan 76,320 30,447
15,117 2,110 15,201
Italy 11,122 4,510
2,063 468 1,769
Hungary 1,046




Romania 1,000




Naval ships production during World War II

Country Aircraft carriers Battle
ships		 Cruisers Destroyers Convoy escorts Sub
marines		 Merchant tonnage
Soviet Union

2 25
52
United States 22 (141) 8 48 349 420 203 33,993,230
United Kingdom 14 (25) 5 32 240 413 167 6,378,899
Canada


1 303
3,742,100
Other Commonwealth


3 60+
2,702,943
Germany 0 2
17 23 1,141
Japan 16 2 9 63
167 4,152,361
Italy 0 3 6 6
28 1,469,606

Large Scale Civil Engineering Construction during World War II

Country Concrete bunkers and pillboxes
United Kingdom 72,128,141
Germany 132,685,348

Materials used during World War II

Country Coal Iron Ore Crude Oil
Soviet Union 590.8 71.3 110.6
United States 2,149.7 396.9 833.2
United Kingdom 1,441.2 119.2 90.8
Canada 101.9 3.6 8.4
Germany 2,420.3 240.7 33.4
Japan 184.5 21.0 5.2
Italy 16.9 4.4
Hungary 6.6 14.1 3.1
Romania 1.6 10.8 25.0

1. ^ a b c In millions of tonnes (metric ton) (1 tonne = ~7.2 barrels of oil)
2. ^ Including 23.4 synthetic.