Strictly military spending by European NATO countries and Canada will increase in 2026, at a lower rate than the previous year, the Atlantic Alliance announced on Tuesday.
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European Allies and Canada will spend $634 billion in 2026, according to NATO estimates, compared to $571 billion in 2025, an increase of 11%.
In 2025, the increase in their military spending had reached nearly 20%.
NATO published these figures on Tuesday, on the first day of its summit in Ankara where American President Donald Trump arrived in the afternoon, once again denouncing the gap between American military spending and that of its European and Canadian allies.
Last year, the 32 countries of the Alliance committed to devoting at least 5% of their gross domestic product (GDP) to their security spending by 2035, including 3.5% for their military spending stricto sensu.
This year, European Allies and Canada reached 2.53%, up slightly from 2025 (2.31%), but at very different rates.
In 2026, five countries have already reached 5% security spending: Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia and Greece. There were only three last year (Poland, Lithuania and Latvia).
France in 2026 devoted 2.22% of its GDP to military spending stricto sensu, compared to 2.04% last year.
The United States will reach 3.17% this year, the same level as the previous year.
NATO countries committed in 2014 to reaching 2% by 2024. All had reached it last year, but one country, Slovenia, will be below this percentage, according to NATO estimates, at 1.62%.
