NATO estimates that all associate States will accomplish the goal of devoting at least 2% of their gross home product (GDP) to defence this year.
According to a study published on Thursday, August 28, in Brussels, 31 of the 32 NATO countries will scope the 2% mark in 2025, which is an alliance member, does not have their own armed forces and so has no defence budget.
More on Defense
At the 2014 Wales Summit, NATO states agreed to increase their defence spending to at least 2% of GDP within 10 years. According to the NATO study presented in April this year, 22 states, including Germany, achieved this goal by the end of 2024.
In the estimates published by NATO for the year 2025, based on the current and planned defence spending of the associate States, countries specified as Spain, Italy and Belgium are besides forecasting defence spending of 2% of their budgets. NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte reported this as early as June, following akin statements by respective states.
NATO has not yet published estimates for Germany for the current year. Although the German government announced that in 2025 it would allocate at least 2% of GDP to defence, the German budget inactive needs to be approved by Parliament.
Poland is simply a prime minister
Achieving the 2 percent mark is only 1 step towards even more ambitious targets: at the NATO summit in The Hague in June this year, associate States committed to devoting at least 3.5% of their GDP to defence and 1.5% to defence infrastructure by 2032.
According to NATO data, Poland will have the highest share of defence spending in GDP this year – as much as 4.48%, ahead of Lithuania (4%) and Estonia (3.38%). It is estimated that the United States will spend 3.22% of its GDP on defence this year.
