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The defence budgets of European NATO member states and Canada in 2024 increased by 20% compared to the previous year, the highest growth in decades. This was announced on Friday by NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte, Reuters reports.
According to him, the Alliance’s total defence spending has exceeded $485 billion, and cumulative additional investments since 2014 have reached $700 billion.
“I look forward to next week’s meeting of NATO Defence Ministers, where we will discuss further increasing and making security investments more effective,” Rutte said.
The increase in spending is a response to the escalating geopolitical situation in Europe following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which became the largest military conflict on the continent since World War II.
The Alliance member states are also facing new pressure from US President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly demanded that European allies increase their defence budgets.
NATO has not yet provided detailed financial data, but it is expected to be released during a meeting of NATO defence ministers next Wednesday. This meeting will be the first to be attended by the new US Secretary of Defence Pete Hegseth.
Stay tuned to learn more about the Alliance’s upcoming decisions on defence spending.
