from Statista.com
— this post authored by Sarah Feldman
NATO turns 70 years old next Thursday. The intergovernmental military alliance was formed after World War II between the United States, Canada, and Western European countries, but has grown to include much of Europe. Its initial goal was to curb Soviet influence in Europe following the end of WWII.
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In the present, the organization has come under fire by President Trump, who criticizes the way that the inter-military alliance is funded. President Trump has called on other member states to increase defense spending. NATO is funded by many revenue streams: indirect or national contributions, where members volunteer equipment or troops and bear the cost of that; direct contributions, where each member dedicates a small percent of their defense budget to the organization based on its Gross National Income (GNI); and through joint funding for individual projects, where participating countries can identify the needs and funding arrangements and NATO monitors the political and financial oversight of a project.
For the direct contribution revenue stream, the United States contributes the most to NATO in terms of nominal dollars spent and as a percent of its GDP. In 2018, the U.S. spent over $700 billion on defense, which makes up about 3.5% of its GDP. The United Kingdom spent the second most amount of money, contributing about $61 billion. While in nominal numbers the UK contributed the second most in 2018, both Greece and Estonia gave a higher percent of their GDP to the defense force.
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