NATO says defense spending by its European member states and Canada increased by 11 percent over the past year, underscoring a broader effort to strengthen the alliance’s military readiness amid growing security challenges.
Figures released on Tuesday during the NATO leaders’ summit in Ankara estimate that total defense spending by Europe and Canada will reach $634 billion in 2026, up from approximately $571 billion in 2025.
Despite the increase, NATO said European allies and Canada still fall short of the level of defense spending sought by the United States. President Donald Trump has urged alliance members to commit five percent of their gross domestic product (GDP) to defense by 2035.
According to NATO’s latest assessment, five member states—including Poland and the three Baltic countries—have already reached that target, while several others remain well below it. Slovenia currently records the alliance’s lowest defense spending at 1.61 percent of GDP.
The report also identifies Lithuania as NATO’s highest defense spender relative to its economy, allocating 5.33 percent of GDP to core defense expenditure. Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Greece follow closely behind.
NATO estimates that the United States will spend 3.17 percent of GDP on core defense in 2026, compared with 2.69 percent for Germany, 2.56 percent for the United Kingdom and 2.22 percent for France.
Alliance leaders also agreed to broaden their security investment goals by combining 3.5 percent of GDP for core defense with an additional 1.5 percent for security-related investments, including cyber defense, critical infrastructure and other strategic capabilities.
The new spending targets reflect NATO’s growing emphasis on strengthening military preparedness while adapting to emerging security threats across Europe and beyond.
