Eighteen out of 31 NATO countries will hit the target of 2% in defense spending of their gross domestic product in 2024, NATO's Secretary Gen. Jens Stoltenberg said Wednesday.
"I expect 18 allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defense this year," Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels, adding overall military spending was set for another record year as Russia's full-fledged war against Ukraine is entering a third year.
NATO's European states would invest a combined total of $380 billion in defense this year, Stoltenberg added.
Berlin will meet the 2% target this year for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
The U.S. is the only Group of 7 nation to have met its NATO minimum obligation of 2% of GDP, and the U.S. has the largest GDP in the world at more than $25 trillion. This means the U.S. pays more into the European alliance than any nation, despite not being a European Union nation.
In 2023, 11 allies are expected to have met the 2% target, according to prior NATO estimates: Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Britain, and Slovakia.
"Last year saw an unprecedented rise of 11% across European Allies and Canada," Stoltenberg said. "This year, I expect 18 Allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defense. That is another record number, and a six-fold increase from 2014, when only 3 Allies met the target.
"In 2024, NATO Allies in Europe will invest a combined total of 380 billion US dollars in defense. For the first time, this amounts to 2% of their combined GDP.
"So we are making real progress. European Allies are spending more; however, some Allies still have a way to go, because we agreed at the Vilnius Summit that all Allies should invest 2% – and that 2% is a minimum."
The new figures and remarks come only days after former President Donald Trump shocked Europeans by suggesting that the United States might not protect NATO allies who are not spending enough on defense from a potential Russian invasion.
Newsmax's Eric Mack contributed to this Reuters report.