NATO defense spending to exceed $1.8 trillion in 2026

The United States is expected to remain the alliance's largest military spender, with defense expenditure reaching approximately $1.03 trillion, or around 57% of NATO's total defense spending.

Germany is projected to rank second with about $147 billion in defense spending, followed by the United Kingdom at $110 billion, France at $80 billion, Italy at $57 billion, Poland at $53 billion, Canada at $52 billion and Türkiye at $48 billion.

NATO estimates that Lithuania, Estonia, Latvia, Poland and Greece will each spend more than 3.5% of GDP on core defense in 2026, exceeding the benchmark adopted by allies at the 2025 Hague Summit. Across the alliance, average core defense spending is expected to reach 2.86% of GDP.

At the Hague summit, NATO members agreed to increase total defense and security-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035, including 3.5% for core defense and 1.5% for investments in areas such as critical infrastructure, resilience and innovation.

Earlier, Qazinform News Agency reported that Sweden hosted a NATO foreign ministers meeting.