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The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) Recently released have been released annual defense report reporting how many money members of the Mutual Security Alliance spend on their defense and who meet their obligations.
In 2014, the heads of state and the government are defending for all NATO Member States who are committed to publishing at least 2% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to increase the military readiness of the Alliance in the midst of Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea and instability in the middle. The 2% directive built on an earlier deployment of NATO defense members.
At the time of the 2014 promise, only three NATO members – the US, the UK and Greece – were on the 2%threshold. That figure rose to nine in 2020, dropped to six in 2021 but recovered after seven in 2022 after Russian invasion of Ukraine. It then tapped until 10 in 2023 and 2024 saw 23 of the 32 Member States, including newly ratified members Finland and Sweden, meet the threshold.
The latest data from NATO shows that all 32 members of the Alliance are expected to meet the 2% spending commitment in 2025, based on the estimated defense and economic growth figures used for the figures of 2024 and 2025. It marks the first time since the spending purpose.
NATO countries agree to spend 5% of GDP on Defense: which countries led in 2024?
All NATO members are expected to spend 2% of GDP on Defense for the first time in 2025. (Oleg Nikishin / Getty Images / Getty images)
Earlier this year, almost all NATO members agreed with a new goal of 5% of GDP spend on defense By 2035, a figure that sets a goal to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defense requirements to meet the NATO capacity goals, whereby the rest is possible to other defense and security-related spending. The lonely country to report was Spain, which said it could meet its military requirements by issuing only 2.1% of GDP.
This is a look at how much NATO says that Member States will spend an estimated on Defense this year, as well as when Member States have met the original threshold of 2%.
(Note: The latest NATO data does not contain German Defense Expenditure Levels, although the country reached the threshold of 2% last year and is planning to further increase the expenditure in the coming years. It also excludes Iceland, which has no defense budget, but contributes in other ways.)
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2% spend since 2023 or earlier
- US – more than 3% since at least 2014
- UK – more than 2% since at least 2014
- Greece – More than 2% since at least 2014
- Estonia – More than 2% since 2015
- Latvia – More than 2% since 2018
- Lithuania – More than 2% since 2019
- Poland – More than 2% since 2020
- Finland – More than 2% since 2023 (ratified as a NATO member in 2023)
- Denmark – More than 2% since 2023
- Hungary – More than 2% since 2023
American, British, Polish and German staff practice a river transition during NATO Dragon 24 Military Practice in Poland. (Sean Gallup / Getty Images / Getty images)
Outruped 2% in 2024
- Albania
- Bulgaria
- Czech Republic
- France
- Germany
- Montenegro
- The Netherlands
- North Macedonia
- Norway
- Romania
- Sweden (ratified as a NATO member in 2024)
- Turkey
In June 2025, tanks and helicopters participate in the multinational LiveX immediate response 2025 Military Exercise near Xanthi, Greece. (Reuters / Louisa Gouliamaki / Reuters)
Outruped 2% in 2025
- Belgium
- Canada
- Croatia
- Italy
- Luxembourg
- Slovenia
- Spain
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