Five NATO members seen to spend over 3.5% of GDP on core defence this year, alliance estimates show

ANKARA, July 7 (Reuters) – Five NATO members are expected to meet the alliance’s target of spending 3.5% of its gross domestic product on core defense in 2026, according to updated NATO data released ahead of a leaders’ summit in Ankara on Tuesday.

At a summit in The Hague last year, NATO leaders pledged to spend 3.5% of GDP on key defense items such as weapons and troops by 2035; this figure was higher than the previous target of 2%.

They also agreed to invest a further 1.5 percent of GDP in broader defense-related investments, such as improving cybersecurity.

Alliance members have faced pressure from US President Donald Trump to show they are increasing defense spending.

Data released on Tuesday shows Lithuania is the alliance’s top spender in terms of percentage of economic output; core defense spending is estimated at 5.33% of GDP this year.

This was followed by Estonia with 5.1%, Latvia with 4.92%, Poland with 4.68% and Greece with 3.65%.

The report showed that last year three NATO members – Albania (1.48%), Slovenia (1.57%) and the Czech Republic (1.86%) – did not meet the previous 2% target.

It also showed that Albania and the Czech Republic are expected to spend over 2% this year; There was also a note stating that Slovenia’s new government plans to spend more than 2%.

Some other countries are estimated to be around or slightly above 2%, including Belgium (2%), Portugal (2.1%) and Italy (2.1%).

According to estimates, the US will spend 3.17%, Germany will spend 2.69%, the UK will spend 2.56% and France will spend 2.22%.

In total, European NATO members and Canada are expected to spend 2.53 percent of GDP on basic defense this year.

(Reporting by Lili Bayer; Editing by Bart Meijer)