Federal Defense Minister Boris Pistorius (SPD) during his inaugural visit to the Air Force. © Jens Büttner/dpa
Despite the "special fund" for the Bundeswehr, Germany lacks billions to meet a NATO target for military spending. Other countries are similarly weak.
Munich – German Chancellor Olaf Scholz (SPD) has proclaimed the "turning point" after the start of the Ukraine war and announced a "special fund" for the Bundeswehr. According to the plans of the traffic light coalition, it was supposed to herald a new way of dealing with the army. Despite this intention, the Bundeswehr apparently falls far short of the NATO goal. This has now been calculated by the Ifo Institute. In 2014, Germany pledged to increase military spending to two percent of economic output.
However, the German government will spend 2023 billion euros on defense in 64, the Ifo Institute stated. This corresponds to 1.6 percent of economic output. Compared to NATO's target of two percent, this results in a deficit of 17 billion euros, the Munich-based researchers announced on Tuesday (16 May). Opposition politicians are already calling for an increase in the Bundeswehr budget.
Military spending: NATO countries fall short of target
However, Germany is not the only NATO member state that does not meet the two percent target. Only 11 out of 31 members meet the common goals - although Iceland is a member of the military alliance but does not have an army. Above all, countries with geographical proximity to Russia meet the goal.
"From a financial perspective, this is a classic free-rider problem," the study says. In the system of collective defense, individual member states could have rested on the security promise of the United States and neglected their own defense capability
"Largest deficit": Germany fails to meet NATO target for military spending
Ifo singles out Germany in particular. "This is the biggest deficit of all countries," said Florian Dorn, one of the authors. In no other country is there such a large gap between promises and actual spending. According to Ifo, the "special fund" of 100 billion euros will not change this.
However, the institute counts all NATO countries together in the deficit of military spending and states it at more than 50 billion euros, of which Germany's share is said to be 17 billion euros. In terms of the share of economic power, however, Germany is in the middle of the pack.
| Land | Expenditure relative to economic output as a percentage | Percentage change compared to 2021 |
|---|---|---|
| Poland | 4,3 | 2,1 |
| United States | 3,3 | -0,1 |
| Greece | 3,1 | -0,6 |
| Estonia | 2,9 | 0,9 |
| Lithuania | 2,6 | 0,6 |
| Finland | 2,4 | 0,4 |
| Hungary | 2,3 | 0,6 |
| Romania | 2,3 | 0,4 |
| Great Britain | 2,2 | -0,1 |
| Latvia | 2,2 | 0,1 |
| Slovakia | 2,0 | 0,3 |
| North Macedonia | 1,9 | 0,5 |
| France | 1,9 | 0,0 |
| Albania | 1,9 | 0,6 |
| Bulgaria | 1,8 | 0,3 |
| Croatia | 1,8 | -0,2 |
| Germany | 1,6 | 0,1 |
| Denmark | 1,6 | 0,2 |
| Montenegro | 1,5 | 0,0 |
| Italy | 1,5 | 0,0 |
| Czechia | 1,5 | 0,1 |
| Norway | 1,5 | -0,3 |
| Netherlands | 1,5 | 0,1 |
| Sweden | 1,4 | 0,3 |
| Slovenia | 1,4 | 0,1 |
| Turkey | 1,3 | -0,3 |
| Portugal | 1,3 | -0,2 |
| Canada | 1,3 | 0,0 |
| Belgium | 1,3 | 0,2 |
| Spain | 1,2 | 0,1 |
| Luxembourg | 0,7 | 0,3 |
| Source: Info-Institut |
Poland is the NATO country with the largest defence budget – measured by economic power
The largest share of NATO's financing comes from the United States, which, according to Ifo, accounts for 818 billion euros of the alliance's total spending of 1.2 trillion euros. In terms of economic output, they are only in 2nd place. In first place, according to Ifo calculations, is Poland, which invested massively after the start of the Ukraine war and now spends 4.3 percent of gross domestic product on the military. That is 17 billion euros more than the country would have to. Most recently, the Polish government even announced the goal of the "strongest land army in Europe".
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However, the Ifo Institute does not look at the budgets of the defense ministries, but at a "NATO definition". According to Ifo, this includes slightly higher sums in some countries. Budget items that are not included in the defence budget are also included.
Nevertheless, Germany is investing in the military: the Bundeswehr is getting new tanks and US helicopters. (ms/dpa
)
