"Over 343 billion euros spent in 2024 alone"/ Which EU countries contribute the most to their defense

2025-12-02 11:55:00, Kosova & Bota CNA

"Over 343 billion euros spent in 2024 alone"/ Which EU countries

European Union countries spent 343.2 billion euros on defense in 2024, with Germany and France together accounting for 44% of this total.

Defense spending in the EU has increased significantly as global threats intensify, with spending almost doubling over the past five years.

The European Defense Agency (EDA) predicts that this amount will reach 392 billion euros by 2025. Many security experts link this significant increase directly to Russia's invasion of Ukraine, along with the US's wavering support for European security.

With a Russia-Ukraine peace plan being drafted, experts have said that a deal that favors Moscow could threaten long-term stability if certain security guarantees are left out. For Ukraine's neighbors, the threat of a future Russian invasion is an increasingly real risk.

As global peace hangs in the balance, here are the European countries that are contributing the most to its protection:

Germany tops the list by a wide margin with €90.6 billion, accounting for 26.4% of total EU defense spending. France follows with €59.6 billion, or 17.4% of the EU total. Together, the two countries account for 43.8% of all EU defense spending, which amounts to €150 billion.

Italy ranks third with €32.7 billion, followed by Poland with €31.9 billion. Spain ranks fifth, but its defense spending remains relatively low among major European economies at €22.7 billion. Earlier this year, US President Donald Trump famously threatened to expel Spain from NATO for resisting a commitment to increase military spending to 5% of GDP. Together, the top five countries in the ranking spent €237.5 billion on defense, accounting for 69.2% of the EU total.

Meanwhile, a total of 14 EU countries spent less than €5 billion each, and eight of them spent under €2 billion. Together, this group of 14 countries spent €28.2 billion, which is just 8.2% of the EU total. This group includes Austria (€4.9 billion), Hungary (€4.5 billion) and Portugal (€4.2 billion). Malta, the smallest EU member state, recorded the lowest spending at just €99 million.

The UK and Turkey are major European members of NATO, although they are not part of the EU. According to NATO, in 2024 the UK spent £65.8 billion (€74.97 billion) on defence, while Turkey spent around €24.4 billion.

Defense spending per person varies widely across Europe, from 174 euros in Malta to 1,540 euros in Denmark in 2024. The simple average across all EU countries was 686 euros and 764 euros when weighted by EU population at the beginning of the year.

Besides Denmark, four other countries spend more than 1,000 euros per person. They are the Netherlands (1,184 euros), Finland (1,140 euros), Sweden (1,073 euros) and Germany (1,069 euros). Among the other two large economies, France spends 869 euros per person, while Italy shares 555 euros.

At a summit earlier this year, NATO members agreed to increase defense spending to 5% of GDP by 2035 in response to pressure from the United States. Countries aim to spend 3.5% of output on core defense, while the remaining 1.5% could be spent on broader security infrastructure. /CNA