How much do Europe countries spend for defense without a common army? NATO data

In an increasingly unstable international context, many countries of theEuropean Union are discussing the possible increase in the military expenditurewith the aim of strengthening defensive skills and, in the background, the creation of a common defense through the Rearm project. But how much they spend Indeed the individual European states for the defense? To answer this question, we refer to the data provided by BORNwhich regularly collects and publishes detailed information on the expenses for the defense of participating European countries. Each Member State contributes with a share proportional to GDP; However, 8 countries, including Italy, do not reach the 2% threshold of GDP intended for military spending. The available data are updated up to June 2024therefore all information relating to 2024 estimates are to be considered.

The NATO data relating to military spending come from Ministry of Defense of each allied country, which reports the costs for the defense and those estimated for the future. In addition, NATO integrates the data with economic and demographic information provided by Directorate General for Economic Economic Affairs of the European Commission (DG ECFIN) and byOrganization for economic cooperation and development (OECD). Since there are differences between these sources and the forecasts of the national GDP, the numbers reported could diverge from those published by the media or by the national authorities. Despite these differences, NATO document is useful for making comparisons between the various countriesas it provides one common standard for the calculation of military spending.

Military expenses as percentage compared to GDP

In the graph below, the expenses for the defense of each country are shown in percentage compared to GDP (Gross domestic product). According to NATO, the minimum recommendation is to allocate at least the 2% of the GDP to defense. The data refer to the years 2014 (in blue) and 2024 (in dark blue).

It is interesting to note that the European countries that spend one major percentage of theirs GDP are those who were part of theSoviet Union. For example, the Polandin the first place, allocates the 4.12% of his GDP to the defense. Other countries with high expenses are theEstonia (3.4%), the Latvia (3.15%) and the Lithuania (2.85%). The Scandinavian countries follow, geographically close to Russia, such as the Finland (2.41%) and the Denmark (2.37%).

And theItaly? Our country is located below the European average, with the1.49% of the GDP destined for defense, thus placing itself in the third last place in Europe. Immediately after Italy, we find Belgium, Luxembourg, Slovenia and Spain. In the graph, the United Stateswhich spend the 3.38% of their GDP for the defense.

How the expenses are divided

Another graph shows how defense expenses are divided between different budget itemsincluding:

• personnel: the costs for maintaining the armed forces
• Operations and maintenance: expenses relating to daily management and operations
• Infrastructure: the costs for the maintenance and construction of military structures

Total expenses in euros per country

In the next graph, the Total expenses for each country, expressed in euro and taking into account the exchange rate of each currency. These data provide a direct comparison between financial resources used in defense by each state. Also in this case, the data referring to the year 2024 They are a prediction.
In the last line we also included, as a comparison, the data referring to United States.

How many military people are in each country

Finally, an interesting overview concerns the number of soldiers in active service for each country. These data are essential to understand not only how much each country spends, but also how many human resources They are engaged in the armed forces, a parameter that can significantly affect the overall expenditure for the defense. In the last line we also included, as a comparison, the data referring to United States.