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GRAPHICS STORY: How much do NATO allies really spend on defense?

Source : NATO expenditures by the numbers (usatoday.com)

Francesca ChambersJavier Zarracina

USA TODAY

Published 10 July 2024

With a war raging in Europe, military spending by the United States compared with other NATO member states is a hot topic at the military alliance's summit in Washington this week. NATO countries agreed in 2014 to spend 2% of their GDP on defense, with the goal of all members meeting that target within a decade. At the time of the pledge, only three had reached that goal: the U.S., Greece, and the UK. Defense spending by NATO nations has increased ever since under three U.S. presidents. The push began after Russia's annexation of Crimea and accelerated in 2022 after Vladimir Putin launched a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. At a summit last year, amid a stalled Ukrainian counteroffensive, allies agreed to spend a minimum of 2% of GDP on defense to "remedy existing shortfalls" and respond to new security challenges. Now, the alliance says, 23 countries are on track to make the target in 2024. That includes Finland and Sweden, both of which joined after the Russian invasion.

"There is still work to be done," Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for European and Eurasian Affairs Douglas Jones said in an interview. ''There are still allies that are not there, and those that are not there need to have a plan to get there soon as possible."At the same time, he said, the increase "demonstrates that European allies are stepping up to more equitably share the burden.""This has been a longtime focus of the United States across administrations to get to this point," Jones, a former Chargé d’Affaires at the U.S. Mission to NATO, said. "We're glad of the progress we've seen, but we'll keep pushing for more until all allies are across that line."

Most NATO members are meeting their expenditure guidelines Since the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine, European allies have increased defense spending by 11%.Although the U.S. spends the most of any NATO nation, Poland and Estonia put a greater share of their GDPs towards defense....................

Allies are taking defense spending "very seriously now" and delivering on their pledge to invest more, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said at a media roundtable in June when the latest numbers were announced."Europeans are investing more. This is good in itself. But it only helps to improve the burden sharing," he said.

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