Non-U.S. members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) have increased their expenditure on defense, with a big spike after the Russian invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
This graphic visualizes the annual percentage change in defense expenditure among NATO members (excluding the U.S.) since 2012 in real terms. Data is from NATO.
Non-U.S. NATO Members are Ramping Up Defense Spending
NATO members have significantly increased their defense spending over the past two years, likely due to the ongoing conflicts in Ukraine and, more recently, in Israel.
Twenty-three of NATO’s 32 members are now meeting the minimum level of annual defense spending (2% of GDP) stipulated for countries in the alliance. This is up significantly from 10 member countries in 2023.
| Year | Change (%) |
|---|---|
| 2012 | -2.7 |
| 2013 | -1.3 |
| 2014 | -0.9 |
| 2015 | 1.6 |
| 2016 | 3.0 |
| 2017 | 5.9 |
| 2018 | 4.2 |
| 2019 | 3.6 |
| 2020 | 4.7 |
| 2021 | 2.5 |
| 2022 | 3.7 |
| 2023e | 9.3 |
| 2024e | 17.9 |
Estimates for 2023 and 2024. All percentages are inflation-adjusted using 2015 prices as base year.
The majority of these expenditures will finance troops. It also includes payment of pensions, expenditures for peacekeeping and humanitarian operations, and investment in research and development (R&D).
Despite the growth in expenditures by non-U.S. members, America is still the most significant contributor to NATO’s budget. In 2023, the U.S. accounted for $860 billion spent by member countries in the organization, representing 68% of the total expenditure. This amount is over 10 times more than that of the second-placed country, Germany.
Source: Visual Capitalist
