Portugal defense spending at 2% GDP

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has estimated that Portugal currently allocates 2% of its Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to defense, in line with the government's promise, but below the allies' average of 2.76%.

By TPN/Lusa, in News, Portugal, World · 28 Aug 2025, 13:02 · 3 Comments

Estimates published by NATO indicate that Portugal should reach the target of allocating 2% of its GDP to defense this year, after the government brought this target forward to 2025, up from 1.58% in 2024 and 1.33% in 2023.

These are still provisional figures, but Portugal is one of the countries with the lowest percentage, 2%, along with Luxembourg, Spain, the Czech Republic, Belgium, North Macedonia, and Germany.

For the Atlantic Alliance allies as a whole, this average is 2.76% of GDP (based on 2021 prices), compared to 2.61% in 2024 and 2.44% in 2023.

The highest spenders are Poland (4.48%), Lithuania (4%), Latvia (3.73%), Estonia (3.38%), Norway (3.35%), the United States, and Denmark (both with 3.22%).

For this year, NATO's target was precisely 2% of GDP.

At the NATO summit held in June, the 32 Atlantic Alliance allies committed to spending, by 2035, 3.5% of GDP on traditional military expenditures (armed forces, equipment, and training) and an additional 1.5% of GDP on cybersecurity infrastructure, readiness, and strategic resilience, an increase from the current target of 2%.

While it's good to see that Portugal's defense spending is relatively low, why does there need to be any at all? Is there a risk that Spain will invade us? Let's spend the money on projects that will benefit the Portuguese people instead!

By Mark from Porto on 28 Aug 2025, 13:48

And of course this was all due to Donald Trump's urging because the EU historically had been taking the US for a ride. It's hilarious how EU and American fake media were initially outraged at Trump for suggesting that Europe play by the rules of the charter. They even claimed that Trump was trying to destroy NATO - a total hoot since most in the American and European Regressive Left had long wanted to abolish NATO, seeing it as reactionary counterweight to the "progressive" Soviet Union. But once Russia turned "conservative", suddenly NATO overnight became a great beacon of democracy and freedom.

By Tony from USA on 28 Aug 2025, 23:56

It would be better to increase GDP. That's where Portugal has a big problem.

By Odd from Algarve on 29 Aug 2025, 09:11