Poland spends the most on defense in NATO. The map of military spending

This article is a part of Poland Unpacked. Weekly intelligence for decision-makers

Poland spends more on defense relative to the size of its economy than any other NATO member. In 2025, the figure was 4.5% of GDP. This fact has already entered the public consciousness and is particularly popular with politicians, who are fond of highlighting it. Indeed, Poland’s spending is very high compared with that of other members of the Alliance. Latvia and Estonia, which ranked next, spent 3.6% and 3.4% of GDP respectively in 2025.

Poland not only spends the most relative to GDP, but has also increased its spending by more than any other NATO country over the past 15 years. In 2010, defense spending stood at 1.8% of GDP, meaning it has risen by 2.7 percentage points of GDP – more than doubling. Latvia has also recorded a sharp increase, spending 2.5 percentage points of GDP more than in 2010, while Lithuania’s spending has risen by 2.2 percentage points of GDP.

Higher military spending in our part of Europe is, of course, a consequence of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and heightened security concerns. This is clearly visible in the chart: defense spending across the region rose sharply from 2022 onwards.

The US is cutting defense spending

At the same time, recent years have seen a gradual decline in US defense spending. In 2010, the country spent almost 5% of its GDP on defense; by 2025, that figure had fallen to 3.1%.

Over the past 15 years, defense spending has also declined in two other important members of the Alliance. One is Turkey, which spent 2.3% of GDP in 2010 and 1.9% in 2025. The other is the United Kingdom, where spending fell from 2.6% to 1.9% of GDP by 2018, before beginning to rise again and reaching 2.4% of GDP in 2025.

Denmark is another interesting case. Defense spending there began to rise sharply after the outbreak of the war in Ukraine, and that pace of growth continued in the following years. As a result, Denmark spent as much as 3.3% of GDP on defense in 2025 – the fourth-highest figure in NATO – compared with just 1.3% in 2021.

This increase was probably driven not only by concerns about the threat from Russia, but also by concerns about the US, in the context of Donald Trump’s threats to annex Greenland.

Poland is now also among NATO’s top spenders in nominal terms

Despite the decline in spending relative to GDP, the US still has by far the highest military expenditure in NATO. In 2025, it spent USD 954 billion on defense. Germany ranked second with USD 114 billion, while the United Kingdom came third with USD 89 billion.

Poland now ranks sixth among NATO members in nominal defense spending. In 2025, its expenditure totaled USD 46.8 billion. That was close to Italy’s level and higher than spending by Spain and Canada, even though all of those countries have significantly larger economies.

The balance within NATO is shifting

Between 2010 and 2022, the breakdown of NATO defense spending measured in dollars changed little. The US accounted for as much as 70% of the total, while the other member states made up the remaining 30%. In recent years, however, that balance has begun to shift markedly. By 2025, the US share had fallen to 60%, while the share of the other members had risen to 40%.

The main reason is the increase in defense spending in Europe, combined with a decline in US spending and NATO’s admission of two new members – Finland and Sweden.

It is worth remembering, however, that nominal spending figures are not fully comparable. Above all, they do not account for differences in wage levels between countries, even though personnel costs make up a large share of defense budgets. As a result, spending in wealthier countries, including the US, is lower in real terms than the headline statistics suggest, while in less affluent countries its real value is higher.

Poland was already among the biggest spenders before 2022

In discussions of defense spending, one sometimes encounters the claim that Poland was, to some extent, a free rider and that its expenditure was no higher than that of other NATO members. The data do not support this view. Since 2010, Poland has been one of the leaders in defense spending among countries on NATO’s eastern flank, allocating around 2% of GDP to this purpose. Estonia was the only country to spend a comparable share over that period.

Throughout this time, Poland also remained among the ten NATO countries spending the most on defense. It ranked sixth in 2010, third in 2015 and, similarly, third in 2020.

The label of free rider is more applicable to the other Baltic states, particularly Lithuania and Latvia, for much of this period. Before 2014, when Russia first attacked Ukraine, they spent only around 1% of GDP on defense. Their expenditure began to rise gradually only afterward, reaching around 2% of GDP in 2018.

Today, Poland and the Baltic states spend significantly more on defense than the other countries in the region.

The global picture

Finally, it is worth putting these figures in a global context. According to SIPRI data, Ukraine spent the most on defense in 2025, at almost 40% of GDP. Algeria ranked second, spending nearly 9% of GDP, followed by Israel at 7.8% and Russia at 7.5%.

Defense spending was also very high in the Gulf states, including Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Oman, as well as Jordan – and probably the United Arab Emirates, which is not included in the data. In 2025, each of these countries spent more than 4.5% of GDP on defense. The outbreak of war with Iran led to a significant increase in spending in 2026. Azerbaijan and Armenia were also among the countries near the top of the ranking, spending around 6% of GDP.

Poland came just behind these countries. Of the 151 countries included in the data, Poland ranked 11th in the world in 2025. Both this year and next year, defense spending is expected to remain at around 4.5% of GDP.

Poland allocates the largest share of GDP to defense of any NATO member. In 2025, the figure was 4.5% of GDP, compared with 3.6% in Latvia and 3.4% in Estonia. Over 15 years, Poland’s defense spending rose by 2.7 percentage points of GDP, the largest increase anywhere in the Alliance.
The war in Ukraine accelerated the rise in defense spending, particularly among NATO’s European members. At the same time, the US share of total Alliance defense spending fell from around 70% in 2010–22 to 60% in 2025, while the share accounted for by the other member states rose to 40%.
Poland was already among the NATO countries spending relatively heavily on defense before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. In 2025, its defense expenditure totaled USD 46.8 billion, ranking it sixth in NATO in nominal terms and 11th in the world by defense spending as a share of GDP.