NATO's 2025 defense spending tops 1.4 tln USD according to report

Countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) continued to raise defense spending in 2025, with total expenditure expected to exceed $1.4 trillion, according to the alliance's annual report released on Thursday.

The report said European NATO members and Canada sharply increased military spending, with their combined defense outlays reaching $574 billion in 2025, up 20% in real terms from a year earlier.

All NATO members met or exceeded the alliance's longstanding target of spending 2% of gross domestic product (GDP) on defense in 2025, the report said, adding that Poland, Lithuania and Latvia achieved NATO's new target of allocating 3.5% of GDP to core defense spending.

At the summit in The Hague in June 2025, NATO leaders agreed to raise annual defense-related spending to 5% of GDP by 2035. Under the plan, 3.5% would go to core defense needs, while the remaining 1.5% would be allocated to broader security-related areas such as protecting critical infrastructure and strengthening cybersecurity.