NATO Military Spending 2026: $1,597.0bn, 55.2% of World Total

31 of NATO's 32 members spent a combined $1,597.0bn on defense in 2026, equal to 55.2% of world military spending — a calculation based on SIPRI country-level data covering 31 of the alliance's 32 current members.

01 How much did NATO spend on defense in 2026?

Summing SIPRI's country-level military expenditure figures for 2026, NATO members together spent $1,597.0bn, expressed in constant 2024 US dollars. That figure is our own calculation, not a total SIPRI itself publishes — SIPRI reports spending country by country, and NATO's is one of several overlapping alliances and blocs that can be built from those underlying numbers.

Because 2026 falls within SIPRI's estimate window, this total should be read as an estimate rather than a finalized, audited figure. SIPRI typically revises recent-year data as governments finalize budget outturns, so the 2026 number is more likely to move in later data releases than figures for 2024 or earlier.

02 NATO's share of world military spending

The $1,597.0bn NATO total is equal to 55.2% of world military spending in 2026 — meaning NATO members alone account for more than half of everything the world spends on defense in a single year, even before the alliance's 32nd member, Iceland, is added in.

That 55.2% figure describes concentration, not capability or intent. It reflects the combined budgets of an alliance spanning North America and Europe, which includes several of the world's largest individual military spenders alongside many smaller economies.

03 Which members are included — and who's missing

The $1,597.0bn figure sums 31 of NATO's 32 current members. One member has no 2026 figure in the underlying SIPRI data and is therefore excluded from the total rather than estimated or substituted.

• Included — 31 of NATO's 32 current members, each contributing its own 2026 SIPRI constant-2024-dollar figure.
• Missing — Iceland, which has no 2026 figure available and is left out of the sum entirely rather than assigned a value.

Because Iceland maintains no standing armed forces and reports comparatively minimal or no military expenditure in most years, its absence has little effect on the alliance-wide total. The $1,597.0bn figure should still be read as a sum of available members rather than a complete 32-country total.

04 How the $1,597.0bn total is calculated

The total is built by adding SIPRI's constant 2024 US dollar military expenditure estimates for each of NATO's 32 current members in 2026, then omitting any member without a reported figure for that year. No missing value is estimated, interpolated, or carried over from a prior year — a member with no 2026 data simply contributes nothing to the sum.

This bottom-up approach means the $1,597.0bn figure will shift slightly as SIPRI updates individual country estimates in future data releases, and it can be recalculated at any time by re-summing the same 31 country-level figures.

05 NATO spending in context

At $1,597.0bn, NATO's 2026 combined spending — covering 31 of 32 members — represents 55.2% of world military spending for the year. The figure is a 2026 estimate in constant 2024 dollars and is subject to revision as SIPRI incorporates finalized national budget data in subsequent updates. For background on how the alliance's spending commitments and targets work, see NATO defense spending.

Source: SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. Data as of SIPRI's April 2026 update.