For the first time, NATO's European allies and Canada are expected to collectively meet the alliance’s defense spending target of 2% of GDP this year, according to figures released on Thursday. This milestone comes as member states begin preparing to increase their investments further, aiming for the alliance's new goal of 5%.
Figures unveiled by the military alliance show that all allies are finally projected to meet the target more than a decade after it was pledged at a summit in Wales with Albania, Belgium, Canada, Italy, Luxembourg, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal, Slovakia, Slovenia and Spain all expected to just about scrape past the mandated threshold for the first time, News.Az reports citing Euronews.
Iceland is exempted from the target as it does not have armed forces. Germany's figures are not yet included since the country's budget had not been approved at the time the data was collected.
This should bring defence spending by allies from Europe and Canada to a joint 2.27% of GDP, up from 1.99% last year and 1.40% back in 2014 when the target was set. With the US's participation, the rate is bumped further to 2.76% of GDP.
Poland, which aims to bring its defence spending to 5% of GDP in 2026, remains the biggest spender among all 32 allies, with an estimated 4.48% of GDP spent on its military this year. It is followed by the three Baltic countries.
Overall, defence expenditure from NATO Europe and Canada should grow by 15.9% year-on-year, a slight decrease from 2024, but still significantly higher than the 2.6% annual growth registered in 2021 before Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
