11 July 2023
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No.
Seven of NATO’s 30 member countries spent at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense in 2022, according to the NATO secretary general’s 2022 annual report.
(The North Atlantic Treaty Organization added Finland in 2023.)
The seven were Greece (3.54%), the U.S. (3.46%), Lithuania (2.47%), Poland (2.42%), United Kingdom (2.16%), Estonia (2.12%) and Latvia (2.07%).
France, Italy, Germany and Canada were among nations not meeting the pledge, agreed to by NATO defense ministers in 2006.
On July 7, 2023, 35 senators, including Wisconsin Republican Ron Johnson, sent a letter to President Joe Biden emphasizing the need for NATO members to meet the 2% pledge.
Biden is scheduled to attend a NATO summit July 11-12.
The U.S., Canada and several Western European nations created NATO in 1949 to provide collective security against the Soviet Union.
NATO estimated that total military spending by its members in 2022 was more than $1 trillion.
This fact brief, originally published by Wisconsin Watch, is responsive to conversations such as this one. Sources: