In last week's newsletter I questioned European conviction to work together productively in the area of defense spending. After an interesting discussion with a longtime friend and client, I decided to post some of the latest spending numbers by NATO's 32 member states in today's blog.
The top five countries as a percentage of GDP are:
• Poland - 4.2%
• Estonia - 3.43%
• United States - 3.38%
• Latvia - 3.15%
• Greece - 3.08%
The bottom are:
• Canada -1.37%
• Belgium -1.30%
• Slovenia -1.29%
• Luxembourg -1.29%
• Spain -1.28%
The per-capita leaders are:
• United States - $2,239
• Norway - $1,754
• Denmark - $1,479
• Finland - $1,103
• United Kingdom - $1,097
The bottom spenders, due to their small economies, are:
• Romania - $289
• Bulgaria - $218
• Montenegro - $170
• North Macedonia - $127
• Albania - $114
And finally, the big question as to what countries have increased their spending the most between 2014 and 2024.
• Lithuania - 324.45%
• Latvia - 316.36%
• Hungary - 225%
• Poland - 214%
• Luxemburg -189.09%
The countries that had the lowest increase in spending tend (but not always) to be those that already have high per-capita expenditures:
• Italy - 43.49%
• Croatia - 37.5%
• France - $25.63%
• United Kingdom - 22.64%
• United States - $14.34%
Nations bordering Russia have relatively high defense expenditures and those farther away, with the exception of the United Staes, have lower ones. Canada, which relies on the United States for its defense, increased its spending by 57.75%. This is a step in the right direction, but even after raising spending it remains at the bottom of nations as a percentage of GDP.
Maybe being threatened by a dictator with fantasies of empire and a giant nuclear arsenal will be the motivating factor that keeps the European investment story moving forward. We shall see.
* https://worldpopulationreview.com/country-rankings/nato-spending-by-country.