All members have militaries, except for Iceland, which does not have a typical army (but it does have a coast guard and a small unit of civilian specialists for NATO operations). Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member states. Three more members joined between 1952 and 1955, and a fourth joined in 1982. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has added 16 more members from 1999 to 2024.[2]
Currently, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization now covers a total area of 27,580,492 km2 (10,648,887 sq mi), since the accession of Sweden on 7 March 2024.
Membership aspirations
As of March 2024[update], three additional states have formally informed NATO of their membership aspirations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine.[3]
Bosnia and Herzegovina was invited by NATO to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in April 2010.[7]
List of member states
The current members and their dates of admission are listed below.
Special arrangements
The three Nordic countries which joined NATO as founding members, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, chose to limit their participation in three areas: there would be no permanent peacetime bases, no nuclear warheads and no Allied military activity (unless invited) permitted on their territory. However, Denmark allowed the U.S. to maintain an existing base, Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base), in Greenland.[14]
From the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, France pursued a military strategy of independence from NATO under a policy dubbed "Gaullo-Mitterrandism".[15]Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated the return of France to the integrated military command and the Defence Planning Committee in 2009, the latter being disbanded the following year. France remains the only NATO member outside the Nuclear Planning Group and unlike the United States and the United Kingdom, will not commit its nuclear-armed submarines to the alliance.[16][17]
Military spending of the US compared to 31 other NATO member countries (US$ millions).[p]
United States (65.63%)
All other NATO countries total (34.37%)
Total military spending of NATO member countries except the United States, and Sweden (US$ millions).[p][q]
Greece (1.75%)
Estonia (0.28%)
Portugal (0.99%)
Montenegro (0.03%)
Lithuania (0.51%)
Norway (2.05%)
Turkey (4.42%)
Latvia (0.25%)
Denmark (1.91%)
Croatia (0.34%)
North Macedonia (0.062%)
Romania (1.32%)
Hungary (1.01%)
Bulgaria (0.45%)
Italy (7.63%)
France (13.47%)
Poland (7.50%)
Spain (4.57%)
Slovenia (0.21%)
United Kingdom (18.03%)
Slovakia (0.62%)
Canada (6.56%)
Germany (17.26%)
Netherlands (3.85%)
Other (4.928%)
United States and Sweden omitted – see above
The defence spending of the United States is more than double the defence spending of all other NATO members combined.[19] Criticism of the fact that many member states were not contributing their fair share in accordance with the international agreement by then US president Donald Trump caused various reactions from American and European political figures, ranging from ridicule to panic.[20][21][22] While NATO members have committed to spending at least 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence, most of them did not meet that goal in 2023 [23]
Total Military budget of European NATO countries (excluding Turkey) as a percentage of US military budget. Chinese and Russian military spending included for comparison[24]
Political and popular support
Pew Research Center's 2016 survey among its member states showed that while most countries viewed NATO positively, most NATO members preferred keeping their military spending the same. The response to whether their country should militarily aid another NATO country if it were to get into a serious military conflict with Russia was also mixed. Roughly half or fewer in six of the eight countries surveyed say their country should use military force if Russia attacks a neighboring country that is a NATO ally. And at least half in three of the eight NATO countries say that their government should not use military force in such circumstances. The strongest opposition to responding with armed force is in Germany (58%), followed by France (53%) and Italy (51%). More than half of Americans (56%) and Canadians (53%) are willing to respond to Russian military aggression against a fellow NATO country. A plurality of the British (49%) and Poles (48%) would also live up to their Article 5 commitment. The Spanish are divided on the issue: 48% support it, 47% oppose.[27][28]
^ a bCountry order is the same as the preceding chart (military personnel per 1,000 capita) to maintain the same country colours between charts.
^The pie chart format does not allow as many slices as there are countries in NATO, so certain countries (Albania, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland and Luxembourg) have been combined into a single slice.
^ a b cDefence expenditure, GDP and personnel data are based on a June 2024 press release from NATO.[26]
References
Citations
^"The North Atlantic Treaty". North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 4 April 1949. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
^Center, Notre Dame International Security (23 March 2023). "The Addition of NATO Members Over Time (1949–2023)". ND International Security Center. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
^ a b"Enlargement and Article 10". NATO. 10 June 2022. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2022. Currently, five partner countries have declared their aspirations to NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine.
^ a bNATO. "Member countries". NATO. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
^ a bMosquera, Andrés B. Muñoz (2019). "The North Atlantic Treaty: Article 9 and NATO's Institutionalization". Volume 34. Emory International Law Review. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022. Really, the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and International Staff signed in Ottawa
^"03. Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and International Staff, done at Ottawa September 20, 1951". US Department of State. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
^ a bNATO. "Enlargement and Article 10". NATO. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
^"Member countries". NATO. 11 March 2024. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024.
^"World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
^"Field Listing :: Area". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
^"Military expenditure by country as percentage of gross domestic product, 2023". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 5 July 2024. Retrieved 5 July 2024.
^"World Economic Outlook Database, April 2024". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. 16 April 2024. Retrieved 16 April 2024.
^"Denmark and NATO – 1949". Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
^"Why the concept of Gaullo-Mitterrandism is still relevant". IRIS. 29 April 2019. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
^Cody, Edward (12 March 2009). "After 43 Years, France to Rejoin NATO as Full Member". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
^Stratton, Allegra (17 June 2008). "Sarkozy military plan unveiled". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
^Friedman, George (24 January 2017). "Where Does The Relationship Between NATO And The U.S. Go From Here?". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^Birnbaum, Michael; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (8 April 2023). "NATO allies boost defense spending in the wake of Trump criticism". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^Mortimer, Caroline (19 March 2017). "Ex-US ambassador in withering criticism of Trump on Nato". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^Ridgwell, Henry (25 January 2017). "Shaken by Trump's Criticism of NATO, Europe Mulls Building Own Military Force". Voice Of America. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^Gray, Andrew; Siebold, Sabine (13 February 2024). "What did Trump say about NATO funding and what is Article 5?". Retrieved 7 July 2024.
^"SIPRI Military Expenditure Database". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2023. doi:10.55163/cqgc9685. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
^"Country Comparisons — Population". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
^"Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2014–2024)" (PDF). NATO. March 2024. Retrieved 19 September 2024.
^Cuddington, Danielle (6 July 2016). "Support for NATO is widespread among member nations". Pew Research. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
^Emmott, Robin (23 May 2017). "U.S. would defend NATO despite Trump's criticism, Europeans believe: study". Reuters. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024.