“This shows that NATO allies recognise our changed security environment, and the need to meet our collective obligations,” NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte wrote in the report. “I expect the NATO Summit in Ankara this July to build on our achievements in 2025. There is no room for complacency and no time to waste.”
Yet the report revealed wide discrepancies in spending among allies.
In 2025, Spain, Portugal, Albania, Belgium and Canada spent the lowest share of their GDP on defense — all at 2 percent.
Poland had the highest spending as a percentage of GDP in the alliance, at 4.3 percent, while Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, and Denmark were well above 3 percent.
Luxembourg, Belgium and Slovenia raised their spending the most year-on-year in absolute terms, while spending dropped in Hungary, the Czech Republic and the U.S.
Between 2024 and 2025, Europe and Canada increased their defense spending by 19 percent to $574 billion, the report found, while U.S. expenditures shrank marginally to $838 billion. The U.S. share of overall NATO defense spending sank from 64 percent to 59 percent last year.
Meanwhile, Europe and Canada’s spending on major equipment rose by 34 percent last year, the report states. As a share of their total defense expenditure, Greece spent the most on personnel, Albania splurged the most on infrastructure, Belgium forked out the most on operations and maintenance and Luxembourg spent the most on equipment and research.
Last year, NATO countries agreed to raise their defense spending target to 5 percent of GDP by 2035 under pressure from Trump.
