How much does each NATO member spend on defense?

(CNN Spanish) — Trump did it again: After repeatedly criticizing the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) during his presidency, the now-former president — and presidential candidate — insisted Saturday that he would encourage Russia to “do whatever it wants” with the member. countries and once again put the alliance established in 1949 in the eye of the storm.

At the center of Trump’s criticism of NATO is the defense contribution made by each of its 31 members, while threats to the security of Europe and the United States are mounting from Ukraine to the Middle East, including Taiwan. East.

Trump insists that many countries in the alliance do not pay “dues” or “fees” to NATO, as in membership of a country club, and this includes exaggerations and false claims. CNN has verified this which can be read here. Trump has also called the alliance “obsolete” and threatened to withdraw from it years ago during his presidency.

On Saturday, Trump said the United States, under his leadership, would not protect NATO members who do not pay enough. It thus challenged the principle of collective defense – an attack against one member is an attack against all – and shook European and North American security.

US Marines participate in a military exercise called “Cold Response 2022” on March 24, 2022 in Norway. (Credit: Yves Hermann/Reuters)

But despite the political nuances of his statements, there has been frequent criticism — joined by Trump — of the disparate contributions of each of the 31 countries, by their defense spending as a percentage of their respective products. Total interior.

Strictly speaking, there is no treaty or treaty that establishes specific contributions. But since 2006, NATO countries have agreed on a guideline that establishes a minimum defense spending of 2% of GDP.

There is also a direct contribution from member states to the operation of the NATO structure, headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, but this, in proportion to each country’s economy, reaches only 0.3% of the total defense expenditure of all members. NATO’s value lies precisely in collective defense – the sum of all its armed forces – and not in its European offices.

Not all have complied, however, with 2% agreed, although there is a trend towards increased defense spending in NATO that has accelerated with Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014 and then the invasion of Ukraine in 2022.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said this Wednesday that 18 of the 31 members are expected to reach the minimum 2% this year, a record number of countries that have increased sixfold since 2014. According to official figures for 2023, 11 members have crossed this threshold so far.

Among the newest countries to reach the minimum is Germany, one of NATO’s main economic powers but which has been cutting its defense spending in recent decades.

Germany is the representative turn of fear in Europe of the Russian war machine left in Ukraine: in the two years since the invasion, Berlin has become one of Ukraine’s main military suppliers and for this it has reactivated its arms industry. .

Polish soldiers hold a NATO flag during a family photo following a training demonstration with the NATO Multinational Battle Group eFP at the Orzyce training ground on July 3, 2022, in Poland. (Credit: Omar Marks/Getty Images)

Stoltenberg also said that NATO would achieve a collective defense spending of 2% this year for the first time, with contributions from all members combined.

But then, how much does each country spend?

This is a list of members with their relative economic contribution (measured as a percentage of GDP) to NATO’s collective defence, according to official alliance data for 2023.

Albania: 1.76%

Germany: 1.57%

Belgium: 1.13%

Bulgaria: 1.84%

Canada: 1.38%

Croatia: 1.79%

Denmark: 1.65%

Slovakia: 2.03%

Slovenia: 1.5%

Spain: 1.26%

United States: 3.49%

Estonia: 2.73%

Finland: 2.45%

France: 1.9%

Greece: 3.01%

Hungary: 2.43%

Iceland: No armed forces

Italy: 1.46%

Latvia: 2.27%

Lithuania: 2.54%

Luxembourg: 0.72%

North Macedonia: 1.87%

Montenegro: 1.87%

Norway: 1.67%

Netherlands: 1.7%

Poland: 3.9%

Portugal: 1.48%

United Kingdom: 2.07%

Czech Republic: 1.5%

Romania: 2.44%

Turkey: 1.31%

With reporting by James Frater and Joshua Berlinger.