Here’s How Much NATO's Members Are Spending

The U.S. Wants Its Allies To Spend More On Defense. Here’s How Much They’re Shelling Out. -- Washington Post

The United States has long urged its allies -- particularly European governments -- to spend a greater share of their budgets on defense. American officials have warned that defense cuts in recent years by many members of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization have created a two-tiered system in which some nations are freeloading off of those that continue to invest heavily in defense.

Several capitals have done little more than pay lip service to warnings from Washington, which continues to spend approximately 4 percent of its gross domestic product on defense. The United States has shouldered a higher share of NATO’s defense expenditures in recent years. According to NATO’s 2013 annual report, Washington was paying 73 percent of the alliance’s defense expenditures, up from 68 percent in 2007.

NATO leaders have demanded that members spend at least 2 percent of their GDP on defense, but several have struggled to meet that threshold. Currently, few European countries are meeting that benchmark. By way of comparison, Russia spends 4.5 of its GDP on defense.

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My Comment: An interesting chart .... especially when compares Russia with everyone else.