{"id":1547271,"date":"2025-07-16T09:45:00","date_gmt":"2025-07-16T13:45:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/?p=1547271"},"modified":"2025-07-16T09:45:00","modified_gmt":"2025-07-16T13:45:00","slug":"what-nato-countries-spend-on-military-health-education","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/what-nato-countries-spend-on-military-health-education\/1547271\/","title":{"rendered":"What NATO Countries Spend On Military, Health, & Education"},"content":{"rendered":"

What NATO Countries Spend On Military, Health, & Education<\/span><\/p>\n

\n

NATO countries officially agreed to raise their\u00a0defense expenditures<\/a>\u00a0to 5% of their GDP by 2035.<\/p>\n

But how do their military expenditures compare to what they spend on health and education?<\/p>\n

This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Pallavi Rao,<\/a> shows a side-by-side comparison of\u00a0government spending priorities<\/strong>\u00a0as a percentage of GDP for all NATO members.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Data for this visualization comes from\u00a0NATO\u2019s<\/a>\u00a0public releases, and two World Banks sources:\u00a0education<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0health spending<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Figures from the most recent year for each metric is used, listed in the above graphic and in the table in the next section.<\/em><\/p>\n

Compared: NATO\u2019s Spending on Military Vs. Education and Health<\/h2>\n

Currently, every NATO country currently\u00a0spends less<\/strong>\u00a0on its military than on health or education.<\/p>\n

However, the new 5% of GDP target for defense spending is currently higher than what every NATO country currently spends on their military.<\/p>\n

Country
\n\t\t\tMilitary Spend
\n\t\t\t(% of GDP, 2024)
\n\t\t\tHealth Spend
\n\t\t\t(% of GDP 2022\/23)
\n\t\t\tEducation Spend
\n\t\t\t(% of GDP 2021\/22)
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf1 Poland
\n\t\t\t4.1
\n\t\t\t7.0
\n\t\t\t4.7
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddea Estonia
\n\t\t\t3.4
\n\t\t\t7.0
\n\t\t\t5.3
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddfa\ud83c\uddf8 U.S.
\n\t\t\t3.4
\n\t\t\t16.5
\n\t\t\t5.4
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddfb Latvia
\n\t\t\t3.2
\n\t\t\t7.6
\n\t\t\t4.6
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\uddf7 Greece
\n\t\t\t3.1
\n\t\t\t8.5
\n\t\t\t4.1
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddf9 Lithuania
\n\t\t\t2.9
\n\t\t\t7.3
\n\t\t\t4.3
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddee Finland
\n\t\t\t2.4
\n\t\t\t9.7
\n\t\t\t6.5
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddf0 Denmark
\n\t\t\t2.4
\n\t\t\t9.4
\n\t\t\t5.3
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddec\ud83c\udde7 UK
\n\t\t\t2.3
\n\t\t\t10.9
\n\t\t\t5.0
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf7\ud83c\uddf4 Romania
\n\t\t\t2.3
\n\t\t\t5.8
\n\t\t\t3.3
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddf0 North Macedonia
\n\t\t\t2.2
\n\t\t\t7.6
\n\t\t\t3.3
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf4 Norway
\n\t\t\t2.2
\n\t\t\t8.0
\n\t\t\t4.0
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddec Bulgaria
\n\t\t\t2.2
\n\t\t\t7.7
\n\t\t\t4.7
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddea Sweden
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t10.9
\n\t\t\t7.6
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde9\ud83c\uddea Germany
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t11.8
\n\t\t\t4.5
\n\t\t\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddfa Hungary
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t6.4
\n\t\t\t4.7
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\uddff Czech Republic
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t8.5
\n\t\t\t4.8
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf9\ud83c\uddf7 T\u00fcrkiye
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t3.7
\n\t\t\t2.6
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddeb\ud83c\uddf7 France
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t11.9
\n\t\t\t5.4
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf3\ud83c\uddf1 Netherlands
\n\t\t\t2.1
\n\t\t\t10.1
\n\t\t\t5.1
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde6\ud83c\uddf1 Albania
\n\t\t\t2.0
\n\t\t\t6.2
\n\t\t\t2.7
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf2\ud83c\uddea Montenegro
\n\t\t\t2.0
\n\t\t\t10.9
\n\t\t\t4.4
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddf0 Slovakia
\n\t\t\t2.0
\n\t\t\t7.7
\n\t\t\t4.8
\n\t\t\ud83c\udded\ud83c\uddf7 Croatia
\n\t\t\t1.8
\n\t\t\t7.2
\n\t\t\t4.1
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf5\ud83c\uddf9 Portugal
\n\t\t\t1.6
\n\t\t\t10.0
\n\t\t\t4.8
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf9 Italy
\n\t\t\t1.5
\n\t\t\t8.5
\n\t\t\t4.2
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde8\ud83c\udde6 Canada
\n\t\t\t1.4
\n\t\t\t11.2
\n\t\t\t4.1
\n\t\t\ud83c\udde7\ud83c\uddea Belgium
\n\t\t\t1.3
\n\t\t\t10.8
\n\t\t\t6.4
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf1\ud83c\uddfa Luxembourg
\n\t\t\t1.3
\n\t\t\t5.8
\n\t\t\t4.7
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddf8\ud83c\uddee Slovenia
\n\t\t\t1.3
\n\t\t\t9.4
\n\t\t\t5.4
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddea\ud83c\uddf8 Spain
\n\t\t\t1.3
\n\t\t\t9.7
\n\t\t\t4.3
\n\t\t\ud83c\uddee\ud83c\uddf8 Iceland
\n\t\t\t0.0
\n\t\t\t9.0
\n\t\t\t7.1<\/p>\n

For example,\u00a0Poland<\/strong>\u00a0leads NATO in military spending at 4.1% of GDP, driven by concerns over the war in Ukraine.<\/p>\n

The U.S. defense budget, despite being close to $1 trillion, is still about 3% of its GDP. This is only a fraction of what it spends on health: 16.5% of its GDP.<\/p>\n

For reference, this chart breaks down the\u00a0U.S. consumer economy<\/a>, where health care accounted for\u00a0$3 trillion<\/strong>\u00a0in American spending in 2023.<\/p>\n

While the U.S. is an outlier for its comparative health expenditure, health remains the largest expenditure category for all NATO countries.<\/p>\n

However, a 5% defense spending target would\u00a0push 21 countries<\/strong>\u00a0into spending more on their militaries than schools.<\/p>\n

Has Europe\u2019s Free Defense Ride Ended?<\/h2>\n

The new 5% target is a dramatic reversal in priorities for many European nations, particularly in Western Europe, where defense has long taken a back seat to public services.<\/p>\n

However President Trump\u2019s threats of pulling back\u00a0U.S. support<\/a>\u00a0is now forcing a\u00a0continent-wide re-militarization<\/strong>, especially in the wake of Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n

To meet the new threshold, governments will need to either raise revenues dramatically or pull funding from other areas.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Tyler Durden<\/a><\/span>
\nWed, 07\/16\/2025 – 05:45<\/span><\/p>\n

\u200bhttps:\/\/www.zerohedge.com\/geopolitical\/what-nato-countries-spend-military-health-education<\/a>\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What NATO Countries Spend On Military, Health, & Education NATO countries officially agreed to raise their\u00a0defense expenditures\u00a0to 5% of their GDP by 2035. But how…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":1547272,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1547271","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","wpcat-1-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547271","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1547271"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1547271\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1547272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1547271"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1547271"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bugaluu.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1547271"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}