NATO Budgets: Defense for Health Care and Education NATO news

NATO leaders signed a deal to increase defensive spending, as the annual alliance summit in The Hague overturned two days after the meetings on Tuesday and Wednesday.

At the top of the agenda, the goal of the new defensive spending that US President Donald Trump demanded, which will witness that NATO members spend 5 percent of their economic production on basic defense and security.

The goal of the new spending, which will be achieved over the next ten years, is a jump of hundreds of billions of dollars annually from the current goal, which is 2 percent of GDP (GDP).

What countries meet the current goal of two percent?

In 2006, NATO defense ministers agreed to commit at least 2 percent of GDP of defense spending. However, do little. Russia was not even the inclusion of Crimea for the Crimea in 2014, member states agreed to spend 2 percent of GDP to defend by 2024 at the NATO summit in Wales in 2014.

Currently, 23 of 32 member states achieved this goal, as the alliance as a whole spent 2.61 percent of the joint GDP of defense last year.

Poland leads NATO states in defensive spending, committed 4.1 percent of GDP, followed by Estonia and the United States with 3.4 percent each, and Viva by 3.2 percent, and Greece with 3.1 percent.

NATO countries located on the border with Russia, such as Estonia and Lithuania, have increased significantly their defensive spending – from less than one percent of GDP only 10 years ago.

It was the only country for NATO, whose defensive spending was in 2024 less, as a percentage of GDP, than 2014? US.

How will the new goal of 5 percent will work?

The new goal of GDP is 5 percent in two parts:

• 3.5 percent of GDP on pure defensive spending, such as forces and weapons
• 1.5 % of GDP on the broader defense and security investments, such as: infrastructure upgrade, including roads, bridges, ports, airports, military vehicles, cybersecurity, and protection for energy pipelines

This increase in NATO defensive spending comes amid visible threats from Russia, in the wake of the war of Russia, Ukraine.

Mark Root, NATO Secretary -General and former Prime Minister of the Netherlands, described Russia as “the most important direct and direct threat” of NATO.

The coalition members are expected to fulfill the goal by 2035, but the goal will be reviewed again in 2029.

Where does the money come from?

NATO members will have to decide on their own as they will find additional money to allocate to defense.

Roti stated that it is “not a difficult thing” to members to agree to raise defensive spending to 5 percent of GDP due to the increasing threat from Russia.

But the UK ministers, for example, did not explain where they would get additional money to spend on defense. Meanwhile, the European Union allows member states to raise defense spending by 1.5 percent of GDP each year for a period of four years Without any disciplinary steps This would enter into force as soon as the national deficit is higher than 3 percent of GDP.

In addition, European Union ministers have agreed to establish a 150 billion euros weapons fund ($ 174 billion) using borrowing in the European Union to provide loans to countries for joint defense projects.

When asked if NATO members should adhere to the 5 percent goal, US President Donald Trump told the reporters on Friday, “I think we should.” NATO has supported us for a long time, in many cases, I think, we pay nearly 100 percent of the cost. “

How is defensive spending compared to other regions?

When a country is required to spend more on the defense, this money must come from somewhere. Unless governments expand their budgets or raise new revenues, military spending can increase the other sectors that people depend on every day – such as health care and education.

Currently, none of the 32 NATO members spend more defense than health care or education. However, if the goal of the new defense spending is 5 percent, 21 countries are currently investing less than five percent in education will allocate more than education than education.

The table below compares the budgets of NATO countries, with highlighting how defensive spending assesses health care and education expenses.