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Poland is already spending the most on defense in terms of GDP among NATO countries

by AI | 29.Aug 2024 | Europe in brief AI

Estimates for 2024 for Poland speak of expenditures at the level of 4.12 percent of GDP.

Poland ranks fifth with nearly $35 billion in planned military spending. Photo: Francisco Seco/AP Pool/AP/dpa

The record-high defense spending planned in the 2025 budget will not change Poland’s position among NATO countries – we are already spending the most on this goal in terms of GDP. In nominal values, Poland ranks fourth in Europe, after Germany, the United Kingdom, and France.

In the budget project adopted by the government on Wednesday, defense spending next year is to amount to 186 billion PLN, which will constitute 4.7 percent of Poland’s GDP. It will therefore be another year of continuous growth in spending on this goal.

According to NATO’s report on financial allocations for the military by the Alliance’s member countries from June this year, the estimates for 2024 for Poland indicate spending at the level of 4.12 percent of GDP, and for 2023 – 3.26 percent.

Our country has met the threshold of 2 percent of GDP set by allies since 2020, while this year it will spend the most on this goal in relation to GDP among all allied countries. Second in 2024 according to the NATO report will be Estonia (3.43 percent), third – the United States (3.38 percent), fourth – Latvia (3.15 percent), fifth – Greece (3.08 percent). At the same time, only these five countries will allocate more than 3 percent of their GDP to defense.

Meanwhile, 23 out of 32 NATO member states will meet this year’s expenditure minimum set at 2 percent of GDP, which will mean an increase of 13 countries compared to the previous year. Still below the threshold will be: Belgium, Croatia, Spain, Luxembourg, Canada, Portugal, Slovenia, and Italy.

In nominal terms, the leader is traditionally the United States, which according to NATO will spend 968 billion dollars on the army in 2024. All other member countries will allocate less than 100 billion dollars for this purpose, although Germany will be very close to this number, as their spending for this year is estimated at 98 billion dollars. Third after the USA and Germany will be the United Kingdom, which will spend 82 billion dollars on defense, and fourth – France planning 64 billion dollars for this purpose.

Poland ranks fifth with nearly 35 billion dollars of planned military spending. Right behind it will be Italy, which wants to spend 0.5 billion dollars less than Poland on defense this year. Increasing spending by Warsaw for next year will therefore mean that Poland will strengthen its position in the top five countries with the largest defense budget in NATO. (28.08.2024)