NATO hits 2% defence target, but some members risk falling behind

For the first time since 2014, all 32 NATO members spent at least 2 per cent of their GDP on defense last year, meeting the alliance’s historic target. But while some countries stood out as “teacher’s pets,” others are at risk of being held back, according to NATO’s annual report released on March 26.

The alliance’s defence spending reached $1.4 trillion in 2025, driven in part by the pressure exerted by U.S. President Donald Trump. Last year, NATO members also agreed to increase expenditures to 5 per cent of GDP by 2035, Politico writes. 

Not that Trump is impressed. On March 26, he again criticised NATO over its refusal to join the war he and Israel launched against Iran.

"We're very disappointed with NATO because NATO has done absolutely nothing. I said 25 years ago that NATO’s a paper tiger, but more importantly, that we’ll come to their rescue, but they will never come to ours," he said. "That's why I'm so disappointed in NATO, because this was a test for NATO. Or you can help us. You don't have to, and if you don't do that, we will remember it."

Despite the U.S. president’s frustrations, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte credited the spending surge to the Trump administration’s push.

"For too long, European allies and Canada were over-reliant on U.S. military might. We did not take enough responsibility for our own security. But there has been a real shift in mindset," he said.

POLITICO’s spending report card highlights the differences among members. Leading the class are frontline states bordering Russia: Poland (4.3 per cent) and Lithuania (4 per cent), followed by Latvia (3.7 per cent), Estonia (3.4 per cent), Denmark (3.3 per cent), and Norway (3.2 per cent).

Several other allies comfortably surpassed the 2 per cent target, including Finland (2.9 per cent), Greece (2.8 per cent), the Netherlands (2.6 per cent), Sweden (2.5 per cent), Germany (2.4 per cent), and Türkiye (2.3 per cent). The United States earned a B for spending 3.2 per cent of GDP on defence, slightly down from 3.3 per cent in 2024, putting it among a small group of backsliders.

A group of countries barely made the grade, spending just above 2 per cent: the U.K., Romania, North Macedonia, Luxembourg, Bulgaria, Croatia, France, Slovakia, and Montenegro. Slovenia, Italy, Albania, Belgium, Canada, and Portugal spent exactly the minimum. Luxembourg, Belgium, and Slovenia recorded the steepest year-on-year increases.

Meanwhile, Hungary (2.1 per cent) and the Czech Republic (2 per cent) may have formally met the target, but actual spending has declined. Budapest’s defence budget fell 6 per cent from 2024, while Prague’s dropped by 0.3 per cent.

"Fair burden sharing [among allies] is — and remains to be — an issue," said a NATO diplomat, speaking on condition of anonymity. "There’s still time" for Budapest and Prague to reverse the trend by 2035.

By Sabina Mammadli