Portugal will be the seventh country in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), out of a total of 32, that will invest the least in defense in 2024, according to an estimate made for this year.
According to a NATO report on the spending of each member state between 2014 and 2024, the political-military organization estimated that Portugal will invest 1.55% this year.
Last year, the government pointed to 1.64%, but invested 1.48%, according to information made available in April of this year.
The previous executive and the one that took office in April 2024 continue with the forecast of reaching 2% of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) in defense by 2030, despite successive calls by NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg for member states to reach this minimum target as soon as possible.
According to the document, Portugal has been investing more in defense since 2014 and in the last ten years reached the highest expenditure in 2021 (1.52%), but there was a decrease in 2022 (1.40%) and 2023 (1.48%).
The forecast is that in 2024 the country will invest more than it ever has in the last ten years, but still below the 2% minimum that the Atlantic Alliance wants to bring member states up to.
The estimate made by NATO also points out that Poland should be the country that invests the most in defense this year, with 4.12% of GDP, followed by Estonia (3.43%) and above the United States of America (3.38%).
