All NATO member states will reach the alliance’s target of spending 2% of GDP on defence in 2025, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte confirmed on Tuesday at the G7 summit in Canada. It marks the first time since the goal was adopted over a decade ago that the entire alliance will meet it.
“That is really great news,” Rutte said, calling it a historic milestone for NATO.
Earlier this month, Canada and Portugal became the final members to announce plans to hit the 2% threshold by the end of this year. Luxembourg, which uses gross national income (GNI) instead of GDP as its benchmark, is also expected to meet its own version of the target. Iceland, which has no standing military, remains exempt.
The announcement comes just ahead of next week’s NATO summit in The Hague, where leaders are expected to endorse a significantly more ambitious goal: raising defence spending to 5% of GDP. Under the proposal, 3.5% would go toward direct military spending, and 1.5% would fund broader security priorities such as infrastructure and cybersecurity.
