Report for 2023

Only eleven NATO countries reached the two percent target

(Bild: AFP)

NATO requires its members to spend two percent of GDP on defense. A new report shows: Just a third of nations reach this minimum mark.

According to a report presented by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg on Thursday, only eleven of the 31 allies spent at least two percent of their gross domestic product on defense last year. Some of the other countries were significantly lower.

Poland is the front runner
According to NATO's latest calculations, Germany achieved a ratio of 1.66% in 2023. Bringing up the rear in the ranking are countries such as Spain (1.24%), Belgium (1.21%) and Luxembourg (1.01%). The NATO target was achieved by the USA, Poland, Great Britain, Denmark, Finland, Greece, Hungary and Slovakia as well as the three Baltic states Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia.

Stoltenberg's explanation for the shortfall: 

Poland was the frontrunner in terms of the ratio, with defense spending amounting to 3.92 percent of GDP. This puts the country ahead of the USA, which, according to the latest calculations, will spend 3.24% in 2023.

The spectre of Trump
The figures are particularly explosive due to the scenario of Donald Trump returning to the White House after the US presidential election in November. During his term of office from 2017 to 2021, the Republican had already repeatedly railed against what he considered to be insufficient defense spending by European allies and at times even threatened to withdraw the USA from the alliance.

Most recently, Trump also made it clear during an election campaign appearance that he would not grant American support to allies with low defense spending in the event of a Russian attack.

Oslo wants to reach the mark this year
Norway wants to reach the two percent target set by NATO this year. In a revised budget for the Scandinavian country, which is to be presented in the spring, a significant strengthening of the Norwegian armed forces is proposed, as announced by the Norwegian head of government Jonas Gahr Støre on Thursday. The aim is to achieve the NATO target of spending two percent of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense.

A new defense plan will be presented in April. "We will have to live with a more dangerous and unpredictable Russia, probably for a long time," said Støre at the press conference. The security situation around Norway in Europe is serious, "perhaps the most serious we have had for many decades."