NATO’s 2025 report, released this Thursday (26), pointed out that for the first time all 32 countries in the Western military alliance reached the target of investing at least 2% of GDP in defense, established in 2014.
According to the document, the countries that spent the most militarily last year in proportional terms were Poland, with investments in the area that totaled 4.3% of GDP, and Lithuania, with 4%.
The five countries with the lowest defense expenditure in proportional terms reached the minimum level of 2%: Portugal, Spain, Albania, Canada and Belgium.
In the report, NATO highlighted that, between 2014 and 2025, European NATO members and Canada more than doubled their annual defense expenditure, with a real increase of 106%.
“In 2025 alone, NATO allies in Europe and Canada invested a total of US$574 billion in defense, a 20% increase in real terms compared to 2024,” the document stated.
In his first term (2017-2021), American President Donald Trump pushed for other NATO members to meet the 2014 2% target.
“I don’t believe that the entire NATO would reach 2% by 2025 without the current American administration,” declared the alliance’s secretary general, Mark Rutte, at a press conference this Thursday in Brussels.
Interestingly, last year, the first year of the second Trump administration, the United States spent less on defense in proportional terms than in 2014, according to the report: its expenditure in the area was 3.19% of the country’s GDP, down from 3.7% 12 years ago.
The Americans were the seventh NATO country in proportional defense spending, behind Poland, Lithuania, Latvia (3.74%), Estonia (3.42%), Denmark (3.34%) and Norway (3.2%).
Last year, following a new demand from Trump, NATO countries agreed to invest at least 5% of GDP in defense by 2035, a target that was accepted at the military alliance summit held in The Hague, Netherlands, in June.
The only NATO country that refused to commit to this goal was Spain, which led Trump to suggest that the Iberian country be expelled from the alliance.
