NATO allies agree five-percent defence and security investment target

NATO allies agreed at their Hague summit on 25 June 2025 to a defence and security investment target totaling five percent of gross domestic product by 2035. The commitment divided spending into at least 3.5 percent for core defence and up to 1.5 percent for security-related investment.

The broader category included critical infrastructure, networks, civil preparedness, resilience, innovation and the defence industrial base under alliance definitions. It was not permission to count any unrelated public spending, and national plans remained subject to review.

The target replaced the earlier two-percent benchmark as the central planning ambition amid Russia's war against Ukraine and pressure from the United States for greater burden sharing. A percentage of GDP changes with both budgets and economic output and does not measure military capability by itself.

Allies committed to annual plans and a review in 2029. The summit declaration is a political commitment rather than a supranational tax law; national parliaments still authorize budgets. Spain expressed a different interpretation of what its capability obligations required, illustrating implementation tension.

This item records the agreed target and components, not actual 2035 expenditure. It avoids saying every ally immediately spent five percent or that security results follow mechanically from inputs. Capability, procurement quality and collective planning remain necessary measures of delivery.

The declaration reaffirmed Article 5 and described Russia as a long-term threat. Those security findings supplied context for the target but did not convert a budget percentage into a guaranteed response plan for every conceivable attack.