NATO 2026 defense spending to rise 11% to $1.81 trillion, US leads with over $1 trillion

NATO released its 2026 defense‑budget forecasts, showing an 11% increase from the previous year to reach an estimated $1.809 trillion. The United States remains the largest spender, budgeting $1.032 trillion, about 57% of the alliance’s total. Germany, the United Kingdom, France, Italy, Poland, Canada and Turkey follow with budgets ranging from $147 billion to $48 billion.

Five NATO members are projected to exceed the alliance’s 3.5% of GDP target for core defence spending: Lithuania (5.33% of GDP), Estonia (5.10%), Latvia (4.92%), Poland (4.68%) and Greece (3.65%), the latter amounting to roughly €8.69 billion. The ReArmEU 2030 initiative proposes an €1.8 trillion fund to boost European defence and security capabilities over the next seven years.

The alliance’s broader goal is to raise member defence and security outlays to 5% of gross domestic product by 2035, a shift that could require additional spending of about 2 trillion Turkish lira for Turkey and comparable fiscal pressures on other members.