Most NATO countries still do not meet the organization’s standards for military spending, which should exceed 2% of GDP. This is stated in an infographic created by Visual Capitalist.

As you can see, as of 2023, only 11 out of 31 alliance countries spend more than 2% of GDP on the military. These are Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, the United Kingdom, and the Slovak Republic.

All the others, including Germany, France, and Turkey, which have always boasted about their armed forces, spend less than they should according to the NATO statute.

In fact, 68% of NATO’s budget falls on just one country, the United States, which spends $860 billion on the military out of the $1.3 trillion in total spending by NATO countries. This is stated in another infographic from Visual Capitalist.

Germany and the United Kingdom are the next largest military spenders, with $68 billion and $66 billion respectively, or about 5% of NATO’s budget. Not surprisingly, U.S. officials, especially Republicans, are demanding that NATO partners increase defense spending.