Where Data Tells the Story
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All 31 NATO members with armed forces are expected to achieve the target of spending two percent of their GDP on defense for the first time this year. NATO published the estimate last week. According to NATO numbers, only ten members had reached the 2-percent target in 2023. However, most are still far from the new target of 3.5 percent of GDP spent on defense, set for 2035. The majority of countries are in the range of 2.0 percent to 2.8 percent, while a few already spend 3.5 percent or even upwards of 4 percent.
In 2002, NATO adopted the 2-percent target and specified it further during its 2014 summit in Wales, but progress was slow. In the past, individual states have been criticized, particularly by the United States, for investing too little in their national military and thus in the NATO alliance for too long. The United States accounts for 62 percent of all NATO member states' defense spending while its share of the gross domestic product of all NATO states is only 53 percent. Despite its economic strength, the U.S. therefore shoulders a disproportionately high share of NATO's defense capabilities.
Due to the war in Ukraine and the looming US withdrawal from Europe, experts are calling for significantly higher defense spending on the continent. The Kiel Institute for the World Economy has published an initial estimate of the additional weapons and troops Europe would need for self-defense if the U.S. were to withdraw from Europe.
NATO is a military alliance currently comprising 32 European and North American states. NATO's primary responsibilities are security and defense policy, conflict prevention and crisis management as well as disarmament and arms control.