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EXPLAINER
The 32 members of the world’s most powerful military alliance will spend $1.47 trillion this year.
NATO is holding the final day of its three-day summit in Washington, DC, to mark its 75th anniversary.
On Wednesday, the world’s most powerful military alliance formally declared Ukraine was on an “irreversible” path to NATO membership and pledged to provide Kyiv with at least $43bn in military aid.
In 2006, the alliance’s defence ministers agreed to commit a minimum of 2 percent of their gross domestic products (GDP) to defence spending to ensure the military readiness of the alliance.
Currently, two-thirds of its members (23 of 32) have fulfilled this commitment, and will collectively spend $1.47 trillion on defence this year. This is up from just 10 countries meeting the 2 percent guideline in 2023 and three countries meeting the commitment in 2014.
Who are the 32 NATO members?
NATO was founded in 1949 by 12 member states – Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Its aim was to curb Soviet expansion and encourage political integration in Europe.
Over the past 75 years, its membership has grown to 32 members with Finland and Sweden becoming the latest countries to join in 2023 and 2024, respectively.
How much does each NATO member spend?
In February, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said: “In 2024, NATO allies in Europe will invest a combined total of $380bn in defence. For the first time, this amounts to 2 percent of their combined GDP.”
The United States remains the world’s largest military spender by far. In dollar terms, the US represents about two-thirds of NATO countries’ annual defence spending, budgeting an estimated $967bn.
This represents about 3.4 percent of the $28.7 trillion US economy.
The next four top spenders in dollar terms are Germany ($97.7bn), the UK ($82.1bn), France ($64.3bn) and Poland ($34.9bn).
The infographic below shows the ratio of NATO’s military spending by the US compared with other NATO members represented in constant 2015 US dollar prices.
In 2014, NATO allies in Europe and Canada invested $250bn, or about 1.43 percent of their collective GDP, to defence. That figure has risen steadily over the past decade and is expected to reach $430bn, or 2.02 percent, this year.
As a portion of GDP, Poland (4.1 percent), Estonia (3.4 percent), the US (3.4 percent), Latvia (3.2 percent) and Greece (3.1 percent) spend the most while Spain (1.3 percent), Slovenia (1.3 percent), Luxembourg (1.3 percent), Belgium (1.3 percent) and Canada (1.4 percent) spend the least.
Compared with 2014, Latvia, Lithuania and Hungary have had the biggest percentage increases in defence spending with Latvia and Lithuania raising their spending by more than 300 percent and Hungary increasing defence spending by 225 percent.
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