Nato chief welcomes unprecedented rise in alliance’s defence spending
Nato Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg released on February 14 Nato’s latest defence spending figures, which show an unprecedented increase across European Allies and Canada, the alliance said in a media statement.
Previewing this week’s meetings of Nato defence Ministers, Stoltenberg said that since the Defence Investment Pledge was made in 2014, European Allies and Canada have added more than $600 billion for defence.
In 2023, there was a real increase of 11 per cent in defence spending across European Allies and Canada, which Stoltenberg called an “unprecedented rise”.
He said that he expects 18 allies to spend two per cent of GDP on defence in 2024 – a six-fold increase since 2014, when only three allies met the target.
“In 2024, Nato Allies in Europe will invest a combined total of 380 billion US dollars in defence. For the first time, this amounts to two per cent of their combined GDP,” Stoltenberg said.
“we are making real progress: European Allies are spending more. However, some allies still have a ways to go. Because we agreed at the Vilnius Summit that all Allies should invest two per cent, and that two per cent is a minimum,” he said.
In 2014, Nato Allies in Europe invested 1.47 per cent of their collective GDP in defence. That figure has risen steadily over a decade, and will reach two per cent in 2024.
(Photo: Nato)
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