NATO has released a report on the defense spending of its 32 member states. It shows that, except Iceland, which has no army and is therefore exempt from this obligation, all NATO countries are expected to reach the 2 percent target for defense spending this year.
This figure was set back in 2014 in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and hybrid aggression in the Donbas, but even last year, in the midst of a full-scale war, 10 NATO countries spent less than 2 percent of their GDP on defense. This year, NATO estimates that all countries will reach this level, although seven countries will spend exactly 2.0 percent of GDP, and a few will spend only slightly more.
At the June summit, NATO members agreed to allocate 3.5 percent of their GDP to defense. Poland (4.48%), Lithuania (4%), and Latvia (3.73%) are also the leaders in the alliance in terms of the share of GDP spent on defense needs.
