All NATO allies to finally hit defence spending target after Donald Trump’s fury | World | News
All of NATO’s 32 members are finally set to meet the alliance’s 2% spending target, eleven years after it was formally introduced. It comes after significant pressure from the Donald Trump administration to boost defence expenditure, with the allies now working towards a new, greater goal.
New estimated figures from NATO show the alliance’s eight lowest spenders in terms of GDP in 2024 — Croatia, Portugal, Italy, Canada, Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain — have now made the jump to 2%. The UK has been one of the bloc’s most consistent spenders and in 2025, is believed to be spending 2.4% of its GDP on defence — up from 2.33% last year. As a share of GDP, Baltic nations — those believed to be most at threat from Russia — are the alliance’s biggest spenders.
Poland remains top of the table, spending 4.48%, with Lithuania second (4%), Latvia third (3.73%) and Estonia fourth (3.38%).
Poland, Lithuania and Latvia are the only nations meeting the alliance’s new benchmark.
The US is the alliance’s biggest spender in monetary terms by some distance but as a share of GDP, it comes in sixth (3.22%).
The UK was placed 12th, with nations such as Greece, Finland, Sweden and the Netherlands also ahead.
In a statement, the alliance said: “In 2025, all allies are expected to meet or exceed the pre-summit target of investing at least 2% of GDP in defence, compared to only three allies in 2014.
“Over the past decade, European allies and Canada have steadily increased their collective investment in defence – from 1.43% of their combined GDP in 2014, to 2.02% in 2024, when they are investing a combined total of more than USD 485 billion (adjusted to 2021 prices) in defence.”
NATO’s 2% of GDP spending target was first introduced as a guideline in 2006 but wasn’t formally pledged until 2014 following Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea.
A new benchmark was agreed by alliance members earlier this year following demands by US President Donald Trump and also Secretary General Mark Rutte who has warned Russia could be ready to attack NATO within five years.
In June, the allies pledged to reach a 5% of GDP goal by 2035.
This is broken down into spending 3.5% on “core defence” and 1.5% on defence-related areas such as infrastructure and cyber security.
Mr Trump previously warned he would not defend allies if they are not paying enough for their own defence, describing it as “common sense”.
