Mapped: Europe’s Navy Spending by GDP
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Key Takeaways
- Ukraine spent practically 40% of GDP on protection in 2025, by far the best share in Europe.
- Excluding Ukraine, European nations spent a mean of roughly 2% of GDP, with jap NATO members usually spending essentially the most.
- NATO members have pledged to lift protection spending towards 5% of GDP by 2035, reflecting Europe’s accelerating rearmament.
After many years of relative peace, Europe faces heightened army tensions following Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Most Western European nations, nevertheless, proceed to spend comparatively little on protection.
This map highlights nations’ army spending as a proportion of gross home product (GDP) in 2025 utilizing the most recent information obtainable from the SIPRI Military Expenditures Database.
The continental common is 2.94% of GDP, though Ukraine’s exceptionally excessive army spending raises that determine significantly.
The Warfare Economies
Ukraine is by far the biggest relative army spender on the continent. In 2025, the war-torn Japanese European nation spent the equal of 39.56% of its GDP, larger in proportion phrases than the following 11 nations mixed.
Neighboring Russia, which has a far bigger financial system, spends the equal of seven.50% of GDP on its army, nicely forward of the remainder of the continent. Russia is ready to finance roughly double Ukraine’s total army expenditure at the same time as worldwide sanctions have impacted its progress.
This information desk lists European nations alongside their 2025 army spending as a proportion of GDP.
| Rank | Nation | 2025 army spending (% of GDP) |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 🇺🇦 Ukraine | 39.56% |
| 2 | 🇷🇺 Russia | 7.50% |
| 3 | 🇵🇱 Poland | 4.50% |
| 4 | 🇱🇻 Latvia | 3.61% |
| 5 | 🇪🇪 Estonia | 3.37% |
| 6 | 🇳🇴 Norway | 3.28% |
| 7 | 🇩🇰 Denmark | 3.25% |
| 8 | 🇷🇸 Serbia | 2.76% |
| 9 | 🇫🇮 Finland | 2.57% |
| 10 | 🇸🇪 Sweden | 2.47% |
| 11 | 🇧🇾 Belarus | 2.40% |
| 12 | 🇬🇧 United Kingdom | 2.35% |
| 13 | 🇷🇴 Romania | 2.28% |
| 14 | 🇩🇪 Germany | 2.27% |
| 15 | 🇳🇱 Netherlands | 2.19% |
| 16 | 🇪🇸 Spain | 2.13% |
| 17 | 🇭🇺 Hungary | 2.04% |
| 18 | 🇦🇱 Albania | 2.03% |
| 19 | 🇫🇷 France | 2.03% |
| 20 | 🇸🇰 Slovakia | 2.03% |
| 21 | 🇭🇷 Croatia | 2.02% |
| 22 | 🇧🇪 Belgium | 2.01% |
| 23 | 🇧🇬 Bulgaria | 2.01% |
| 24 | 🇲🇰 North Macedonia | 1.97% |
| 25 | 🇹🇷 Türkiye | 1.91% |
| 26 | 🇮🇹 Italy | 1.89% |
| 27 | 🇲🇪 Montenegro | 1.89% |
| 28 | 🇽🇰 Kosovo | 1.85% |
| 29 | 🇨🇿 Czechia | 1.84% |
| 30 | 🇱🇹 Lithuania | 1.83% |
| 31 | 🇬🇪 Georgia | 1.75% |
| 32 | 🇵🇹 Portugal | 1.71% |
| 33 | 🇨🇾 Cyprus | 1.61% |
| 34 | 🇸🇮 Slovenia | 1.54% |
| 35 | 🇬🇷 Greece | 1.17% |
| 36 | 🇦🇹 Austria | 1.10% |
| 37 | 🇱🇺 Luxembourg | 0.85% |
| 38 | 🇨🇭 Switzerland | 0.76% |
| 39 | 🇧🇦 Bosnia and Herzegovina | 0.73% |
| 40 | 🇲🇩 Moldova | 0.56% |
| 41 | 🇲🇹 Malta | 0.45% |
| 42 | 🇮🇪 Eire | 0.22% |
| 43 | 🇮🇸 Iceland | 0.00% |
Russia invaded Ukraine in late February 2022. Greater than 4 years later, each nations have transitioned into battle economies by which industrial and manufacturing output is more and more focused on protection.
In Ukraine, this has taken the type of a world-class drone fleet, which Kyiv makes use of to assist offset Moscow’s vital numerical and logistical benefits on the battlefield. Ukraine has additionally relied on aid packages and loans from Western allies, notably the European Union.
Protection Spending: East vs. West
Russia’s different European neighbors have taken discover and boosted their very own army spending to discourage additional aggression.
Poland leads the way in which with protection spending equal to 4.50% of GDP. Latvia and Estonia additionally rank amongst Europe’s largest relative army spenders at 3.61% and three.37%, respectively, whereas Lithuania spends 1.83%. Additional north, Finland spends 2.57% of GDP on protection, whereas neighboring Norway reaches 3.28%.
In distinction, the massive Western European powers spend comparatively little in contrast with the dimensions of their economies. The UK reaches 2.35% of GDP, adopted by Germany at 2.27%, Spain at 2.13%, and France at 2.03%. Italy trails the group at 1.89% of GDP.
Whereas elements akin to nuclear weapons and financial dimension additionally play a job, the break up in defense spending between nations that border Russia and the remainder of Europe has change into more and more pronounced in recent times.
NATO and the 5-% Rule
A complete of 30 European nations belong to the North Atlantic Treaty Group (NATO) as of 2026, together with its latest members, Finland (2.57%) and Sweden (2.47%), in addition to Black Sea regional energy Türkiye (1.91%). The alliance has pledged to lift protection spending to five% of GDP by 2035, though Spain is exempt.
Russian aggression and the battle in Ukraine have pushed this shift towards rearmament. Elevated strain from the USA, NATO’s largest army energy, has additionally performed a job, notably in the course of the second presidency of Donald Trump.
Lengthy-standing U.S. frustration with European underspending on protection has led White Home officers to contemplate withdrawing from NATO or refusing to help any European nation invaded by Russia. These issues have helped encourage larger defense spending increases in non-nuclear nations akin to Germany, Norway, and the Baltic states.
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