ANKARA, July 7 (Reuters) – Five NATO members are projected to meet the alliance’s goal of spending 3.5% of gross domestic product on core defence already in 2026, according to updated NATO data published on Tuesday ahead of a leaders’ summit in Ankara, which also showed some members are still expected to spend only about 2%.
At a summit in The Hague last year, NATO leaders pledged to spend 3.5% of GDP on core defence items such as weapons and troops by 2035 – up from a previous goal of 2%.
They also agreed to invest a further 1.5% of GDP on broader defence-related investments such as boosting cybersecurity.
Alliance members have faced pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump to demonstrate they are stepping up on defence spending.
Data released on Tuesday put Lithuania as the alliance’s top spender as a percentage of economic output, with core defence expenditure estimated at 5.33% of GDP this year.
It was followed by Estonia (5.1%), Latvia (4.92%), Poland (4.68%) and Greece (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 target of 2%.
It also showed that Albania and the Czech Republic are expected to spend over 2% this year, with a note included stating that Slovenia’s new government plans to spend more than 2%.
Some others are estimated to be at or slightly above 2%, including Belgium (2%), Portugal (2.1%), and Italy (2.1%).
The United States is estimated to be spending 3.17%, while Germany is at 2.69%, United Kingdon at 2.56% and France at 2.22%, according to the projections.
In total, European NATO members and Canada are projected to spend 2.53% of GDP this year on core defence.
(Reporting by Lili Bayer; editing by Bart Meijer)
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