NATO spending by country: Which countries spend the most?

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, was formed after World War II to promote peace and security among its member states through collective defense and cooperation. From the original 12 countries at the beginning of the military and political alliance in 1949, membership has grown to 32 countries. Sweden, the newest member, joined on 26 February 2024.

In 2014, during a summit, member states agreed to commit to spending at least two percent of their GDP on defense by 2025. This decision was taken in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, which took place that year. The pledge was reaffirmed at the summit in Madrid last year after Russia invaded Ukraine. At that time, only nine members besides the US had reached the threshold. Russia’s increased aggression sparked a rearmament movement among NATO members, and most countries pledged to reach the agreed-upon spending level even earlier. So, how are they doing now?

NATO spending by country: Which countries spend the most?

The amount of money spent on defense by NATO member nations has been hotly debated for several years. In the United States, there are emerging riffs over how NATO is viewed, with some factions of the Republican Party seeing the other members as freeloaders for not contributing the two percent threshold. Without the US, the total defense spending of NATO is only 1.74% of the alliance’s GDP, but with the US included, the figure jumps to 2.64 percent.

In 2023, according to the most recent data published by NATO, there were only eleven members that met the two percent target:

Last year, the Slovak Republic made a list for the first time. Major economic powers within the alliance, including France and Germany, have rarely met the requirement, with the former only meeting it once in the last ten years. Germany’s spending on defense has never risen above 1.5 percent of GDP since 2014.

NATO members meet other commitment goals

Meeting the defense spending target set by NATO can be complicated. The economic condition of a country can fluctuate. While some countries commit to spending more, these ‘promises’ are not always completed if the head of state does not have the unanimous power to fulfill them. Besides, some nations in NATO are wealthy but small and meet their commitments in other ways.

Luxembourg is a case in point, as it spends the least proportion of its GDP on defense among the member countries, estimating only 0.72 percent in 2023. Luxembourg plans to double its defense spending by 2028, but it has already met the alliance’s planning goals. Although its armed forces are smaller than those of other nations, with only 1,000 enlisted service members, it has more military personnel per capita than the United Kingdom.

Germany’s Chancellor, Olaf Scholz, was another country singled out in the past for not meeting the two percent pledge. Still, he announced last year that Germany would increase its defense spending by 100 billion euros ($109 billion), which was not considered in the country’s 1.49 percent of GDP estimated for last year. From 2022 to 2023, defense spending in Germany rose from 1.49 to 1.57 percent. Even so, Germany meets NATO’s planning goals

Iceland, on the other hand, doesn’t maintain a standing army and doesn’t feature on the list above. Nevertheless, Iceland has been a member of NATO since 1949 and is a crucial and valued ally. It is strategically located between Europe and North America, safeguarding key waterways.