NATO announced Thursday that all member nations will spend at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense by the end of 2025, according to new data on allied defense spending.

This marks the first time all NATO members have met the 2% spending target, which was set in 2014. NATO had set the goal in response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea, but member nations struggled to keep up, with only 7 reaching the target as of 2022. 

Following intense criticism from President Trump and a new Russian invasion of Ukraine, NATO allies have steadily increased defense spending. Last year, 18 members reached the 2% goal and 31 out of 32 are on target for 2025, according to data released by NATO.

Iceland, which does not have a traditional defense budget and has no armed forces, is excluded from the data despite being a NATO member. 

According to the data, only three member nations are on track to meet the larger 3.5% of GDP on core defense spending by the end of 2025: Poland, Lithuania and Latvia. The three Eastern European allies have been loudly supportive of increasing defense spending, in part because they neighbor Russia. 

NATO members reached an agreement in June to raise the defense spending target from 2% to 5% of GDP. Of this, 3.5% is designated for core defense spending, while the remaining 1.5% can be allocated to defense-supporting initiatives such as critical infrastructure, cybersecurity, and the defense industrial base.

The more ambitious spending goal will take much longer to achieve, with member nations agreeing to meet the target by the end of 2035. 

Still, the alliance is overall spending more on defense, with the report noting that NATO will spend around $1.6 trillion in 2025, compared to $1.45 trillion in the previous year.

• Vaughn Cockayne can be reached at vcockayne@washingtontimes.com.