NATO presents annual report: military spending increases worldwide

Created: 03/31/2022, 11:41 am

By: Daniel Dillman

Fighter jets taking part in a NATO exercise in the Netherlands.

(Symbol photo) © Jeffrey Groeneweg/AFP

In its annual report, NATO will provide information on the military expenditures of its member states.

The trend is clear.

• NATO* presents its annual report this Thursday.

  NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will present the report on military spending in Brussels.

• Mainly because of the Ukraine conflict*, military spending by NATO member states is likely to continue to rise.

• The USA* and Poland have the highest military expenditures within NATO.

  Chancellor Olaf Scholz* (SPD*) also wants to significantly increase the German military budget.

BRUSSELS – In the midst of the biggest military crisis in Europe since the war in Yugoslavia, NATO publishes its annual report.

The defense alliance will present its 2021 defense spending on Thursday at 1 p.m.

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg will take on the task.

After the annexation of Crimea by Russia* in 2014, the member states of NATO agreed to significantly increase their defense spending within ten years.

Each country committed to devoting a total of two percent of national economic output to defense.

Since then, however, only eleven of the 30 NATO countries have achieved this.

NATO presents annual report - military spending increases worldwide

In the 2020 annual report, the Federal Republic of Germany remained well below the two percent target.

In that year, the Bundeswehr received only 1.56 percent of economic output.

After the start of the Ukraine war * in the Bundestag, Chancellor Olaf Scholz announced that he would make a special fund available to the army.

According to the Chancellor's wishes, the Bundeswehr should receive an extra 100 billion euros.

This is intended to close the gap to NATO's two percent target by 2026.

So far, no one in the traffic light coalition has explained where the money will come from.

NATO: Data from the world's largest defense alliance

The spending that NATO member states make on their defense varies widely.

In the wake of Russia's attack on Ukraine, Poland had significantly increased its military spending and in future intends to invest around three percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) in the army.

Greece is currently investing the relatively largest share at 3.82 percent.

The USA follows in second place with 3.52 percent.

NATO annual report: the ten member countries with the highest military spending

• 1. Greece: 3.82%

• 2. United States: 3.52%

• 3. Croatia: 2.79%

• 4. United Kingdom: 2.29%

• 5. Estonia: 2.28%

• 6. Latvia: 2.27%

• 7. Poland: 2.10%

• 8. Lithuania: 2.03%

• 9. Romania: 2.02%

• 10. France: 2.01%

NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg is staying longer

It should actually be the last time that NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg presents the annual report of the defense alliance.

The 63-year-old had planned to become the central bank governor of his native Norway in December.

But the Ukraine war caused Stoltenberg to rethink.

The veteran general will remain with the Defense Alliance until at least September 2023.

In the “biggest security crisis in a generation”, NATO must remain strong, said the Secretary General, according to the dpa news agency.

Stoltenberg has headed the transatlantic military alliance for almost eight years.

NATO was founded by twelve countries in 1949 and has gradually expanded since then.

Up until 1999, 16 countries belonged to the defense alliance.

Since then, NATO has almost doubled in size: 15 other states were added, all of which are in Eastern Europe.

(dil/dpa)