NATO defense spending tracker

How are allies contributing to collective defense?

 

SCROLL TO EXPLORE

Top takeaways

• Ahead of the Ankara summit in July 2026, new figures released by NATO show European allies outpacing previous expectations for defense spending—a welcome signal given ongoing turbulence in the transatlantic alliance.
• In 2025 alone, European allies and Canada increased defense spending by 20 percent from the previous calendar year, with all allies now exceeding the previous defense spending target of 2 percent of gross domestic product (GDP).
• For the first time in recorded NATO history, a European ally—Norway—has surpassed the United States in defense spending per capita.

^{This tracker was last updated on April 9, 2026.}

Disputes over Iran and Greenland, among other issues, have led to rising tensions in the transatlantic partnership ahead of this year’s NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey. But on both sides of the Atlantic, defense spending and the scaling up of industry remain shared values and will likely take center stage to demonstrate allied unity at the summit. Allies are expected to take stock of how they are accelerating their defense spending efforts following the new defense spending pledge adopted at last year’s Hague summit, where allies committed to spend 5 percent of GDP on defense and defense-related items. 

As NATO and its constituent allies undertake a once-in-a-generation defense transformation, the Atlantic Council’s Transatlantic Security Initiative has launched a NATO defense spending tracker to offer a clearer and fuller picture of how allies are contributing to collective defense and the development of real military capabilities. 

Acknowledgements

Authors: Kristen Taylor, Julia Salabert, and Zak Schneider

The research team would like to thank Uri Friedman, Michael Currie, and Daniel Malloy for their contributions to this project.

Related content

Explore the program