NATO has a bigger budget in 2024 and the U.S. is the largest spender in the alliance. The 32-member North Atlantic Treaty Organization received an allocated defense budget of $1.3 trillion in December 2023.
The U.S. alone funds 68% of NATO’s budget in 2024 while the rest 32% is funded by the remaining 31 countries. The U.S. has increased the budget spending by 6% while other member nations have contributed less than 1% extra.
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However, European countries increased the spending on the defense budget after Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022. They are now stepping up spending to safeguard their interests in the region. Despite being unequal in spending, NATO is the biggest defense alliance in 2024 with a massive $1.3 trillion budget.
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A Breakdown of NATO’s $1.3 Trillion Defense Budget for 2024
The highest spender on NATO in 2024 is the U.S. allocating $860 billion this year. The second in line is Germany which allocated $68.08 billion. However, Germany’s spending is 12 times lower than that of the U.S. for defense purposes. Former President of the U.S. Donald Trump demanded in 2018 that member countries must pay 2% of their GDP. His demands were not met as he left office giving way to Joe Biden who dropped the idea of asking other countries to pay more.
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Below is the list of the top 20 countries that spent on NATO’s defense budget in 2024.
- United States. – $860 billion
- Germany – $68.08 billion
- United Kingdom – $65.7 billion
- France – $56.6 billion
- Italy – $31.5 billion
- Poland – $29.1 billion
- Canada – $28.9 billion
- Spain – $19.1 billion
- Netherlands – $16.7 billion
- Turkey – $15.8 billion
- Norway – $8.8 billion
- Romania – $8.4 billion
- Finland – $7.3 billion
- Greece – $7.1 billion
- Belgium – $7 billion
- Denmark – $6.7 billion
- Hungary – $5 billion
- Czech Republic – $5 billion
- Portugal – $4.1 billion
- Others – $$12.4 billion
The remaining 22 countries have pooled in another $200 billion to make up the overall $1.3 trillion budget. In conclusion, the U.S. is the top spender on NATO in 2024 and is increasing its budget every year.