NATO members hit 2% defense spending goal; only 3 meet new target
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NATO says all members will hit the 2% defense spending goal, but only Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia meet the 3.5% military target.
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NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, German Vice Chancellor Lars Klingbeil, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius, and Rheinmetall CEO Armin Papperger pose in front of artillery shells in Unterleuss, Germany, August 27, 2025 (AP)
All NATO member states are set to meet the alliance's long-standing defense spending target of 2% of GDP this year, but only three are currently meeting the new goal of 3.5%, a new NATO report revealed.
According to the report published in Brussels on Thursday, previously lagging NATO countries, such as Spain, Italy, and Belgium, have now increased their defense spending to the level agreed upon at the NATO summit in Wales in 2014. Estimates from the alliance showed that, as recently as last year, more than 10 of the alliance's 32 members fell short of the 2% goal.
However, only three NATO members are currently hitting the new target of 3.5% of GDP agreed in The Hague in June, which are Poland at 4.48%, Lithuania at 4%, and Latvia at 3.73%.
Speaking at the opening of a new Rheinmetall ammunition factory in Germany on Wednesday, NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte welcomed the increased defense spending by alliance members but called for that extra money to be converted into genuine military capability.
"Cash alone doesn't provide security," Rutte stated at Unterlüss, near Hannover, emphasizing that "deterrence doesn't come from 5%; deterrence comes from the capability to ... fight potential enemies."
Meeting new targets through untraditional means to appease Trump
At the June NATO summit, President Trump claimed a victory after allies agreed to significantly boost defense spending, a major foreign policy win for him; however, Newsweek reported that many allies are meeting these new targets through flexible definitions and creative accounting that critics argue stray far from traditional military spending.
Allies agreed to dedicate 5% of their GDP to defense, which is a steep increase from the 2% target set in 2014, but this new figure is split, with 3.5% meant for core defense needs, while the remaining 1.5% can go toward "defense-related" investments like infrastructure, cybersecurity, and resilience.
Italy, for example, is pushing to count its $15.5 billion Strait of Messina Bridge, a massive civilian infrastructure project, as NATO spending, as it calls the project a "security-enhancing" asset on the alliance’s southern flank.
