Member states of NATO

International military alliance From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is an international military alliance consisting of 32 member states from Europe and North America. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Of the 32 member countries, 30 are in Europe and 2 are in North America. Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbours were set up, including the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative, and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. The majority of NATO members are also member states of the European Union.

NATO in 2025

All members have militaries, except for Iceland, which does not have a typical army (but it does have a coast guard and a small unit of civilian specialists for NATO operations). Three of NATO's members are nuclear weapons states: France, the United Kingdom, and the United States. NATO has 12 original founding member states. Three more members joined between 1952 and 1955, and a fourth joined in 1982. Since the end of the Cold War, NATO has added 16 more members from 1999 to 2024.[1] Article 5 of the treaty states that if an armed attack occurs against one of the member states, it shall be considered an attack against all members, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary.[2] Article 6 of the treaty limits the scope of Article 5 to the islands north of the Tropic of Cancer, the North American and European mainlands, the entirety of Turkey, and French Algeria, the last of which has been moot since July 1962. Thus, an attack on Hawaii, Puerto Rico, French Guiana, the Falkland Islands, Ceuta or Melilla, among other places, would not trigger an Article 5 response.

NATO recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine as aspiring members as part of their Open Door enlargement policy.[3]

Map of NATO in Europe:
  Current members
  Membership Action Plan
  Countries seeking membership
  Countries where membership is not a goal
  Collective Security Treaty Organization (CSTO)

Founding members and enlargement

Main article: Enlargement of NATO

NATO was established on 4 April 1949 via the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty (Washington Treaty). The 12 founding members of the Alliance were: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States.[4]

The various allies all signed the Ottawa Agreement,[5] which is a 1951 document that acts to embody civilian oversight of the Alliance.[5][6]

Current membership consists of 32 countries. In addition to the 12 founding countries, four new members joined during the Cold War: Greece and Turkey (1952), West Germany (1955) and Spain (1982). Additionally, NATO experienced territorial expansion during this period without adding new member states when Zone A of the Free Territory of Trieste was annexed by Italy in 1954, and the territory of the former East Germany was added with the reunification of Germany in 1990. NATO further expanded after the Cold War, adding the Czech Republic, Hungary, and Poland (1999); Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia, and Slovenia (2004); Albania and Croatia (2009); Montenegro (2017); North Macedonia (2020); Finland (2023); and Sweden (2024).[4] Of the territories and members added between 1990 and 2024, all except for Finland and Sweden were either formerly part of the Warsaw Pact (including the formerly Soviet Baltic states) or territories of the former Yugoslavia. No countries have left NATO since its founding, although France withdrew from NATO unified command between 1966 and 2009.

Since the accession of Sweden on 7 March 2024, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization covers a total area of 27,580,492 km2 (10,648,887 sq mi).

In October 2025, during a meeting between US president Donald Trump and Finnish president Alexander Stubb, Trump claimed that Spain fails to meet the budget agreement of 5% GDP defense expenditure and was quoted saying: "You people are gonna have to start speaking to Spain, . . . You have to call them and find [out] why are they a laggard."[7][8]

List of member states

The current members and their dates of admission are listed below.

More information Flag, Map ...
List of member states of NATO
Flag Map Name Capital Accession[9] Population[10][11] Area[12] Military budget as %GDP 2024[13] GDP 2025 (million US$)[14] Languages
 Albania Tirana 1 April 2009 2,854,710 28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi) 2.03 28,372 Albanian
 Belgium Brussels 24 August 1949[a] 11,611,419 30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi) 1.30 684,864 Dutch
French
German
Bulgaria Sofia 29 March 2004 6,885,868 110,879 km2 (42,811 sq mi) 2.18 117,007 Bulgarian
 Canada Ottawa 24 August 1949[a] 38,155,012 9,984,670 km2 (3,855,103 sq mi) 1.37 2,225,341 English
French
Croatia Zagreb 1 April 2009 4,060,135 56,594 km2 (21,851 sq mi) 1.81 98,951 Croatian
Czech Republic[b] Prague 12 March 1999 10,510,751 78,867 km2 (30,451 sq mi) 2.10 360,244 Czech
Denmark[c] Copenhagen 24 August 1949[a] 5,854,240 2,210,573 km2 (853,507 sq mi)[d] 2.37 449,940 Danish
Estonia Tallinn 29 March 2004 1,328,701 45,228 km2 (17,463 sq mi) 3.43 45,004 Estonian
Finland Helsinki 4 April 2023 5,619,399 338,455 km2 (130,678 sq mi) 2.41 303,945 Finnish
Swedish
France[e] Paris 24 August 1949[a] 64,531,444 643,427 km2 (248,429 sq mi) 2.06 3,211,292 French
Germany[f] Berlin 6 May 1955
(West Germany)
3 October 1990
(Germany)		 83,408,554 357,022 km2 (137,847 sq mi) 2.12 4,744,804 German
Greece Athens 18 February 1952 10,445,365 131,957 km2 (50,949 sq mi) 3.08 267,348 Greek
Hungary Budapest 12 March 1999 9,709,786 93,028 km2 (35,918 sq mi) 2.11 237,070 Hungarian
Iceland Reykjavík 24 August 1949[a] 370,335 103,000 km2 (39,769 sq mi) 0.0 35,309 Icelandic
Italy Rome 59,240,329 301,340 km2 (116,348 sq mi) 1.49 2,422,855 Italian
Latvia Riga 29 March 2004 1,873,919 64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi) 3.15 43,598 Latvian
Lithuania Vilnius 2,786,651 65,300 km2 (25,212 sq mi) 2.85 89,192 Lithuanian
Luxembourg Luxembourg 24 August 1949[a] 639,321 2,586 km2 (998 sq mi) 1.29 96,613 Luxembourgish
French
German
Montenegro Podgorica 5 June 2017 627,859 13,812 km2 (5,333 sq mi) 2.02 8,562 Montenegrin
Netherlands[g] Amsterdam 24 August 1949[a] 17,501,696 41,543 km2 (16,040 sq mi)[h] 2.05 1,272,011 Dutch
North Macedonia Skopje 27 March 2020 2,103,330 25,713 km2 (9,928 sq mi) 2.22 17,885 Macedonian
Norway[i] Oslo 24 August 1949[a] 5,403,021 385,207 km2 (148,729 sq mi)[j] 2.20 504,276 Norwegian
Poland Warsaw 12 March 1999 38,307,726 312,685 km2 (120,728 sq mi) 4.12 979,960 Polish
Portugal Lisbon 24 August 1949[a] 10,290,103 92,090 km2 (35,556 sq mi) 1.55 321,440 Portuguese
Romania Bucharest 29 March 2004 19,328,560 238,391 km2 (92,043 sq mi) 2.25 403,395 Romanian
Slovakia Bratislava 5,447,622 49,035 km2 (18,933 sq mi) 2.0 147,031 Slovak
Slovenia Ljubljana 2,119,410 20,273 km2 (7,827 sq mi) 1.29 75,224 Slovene
Spain[k] Madrid 30 May 1982 47,486,935 505,370 km2 (195,124 sq mi) 1.28 1,799,511 Spanish
Sweden Stockholm 7 March 2024 10,467,097 450,295 km2 (173,860 sq mi) 2.14 620,297 Swedish
Turkey[l] Ankara 18 February 1952 84,775,404 783,562 km2 (302,535 sq mi) 2.09 1,437,406 Turkish
United Kingdom[m] London 24 August 1949[a] 67,281,039 243,610 km2 (94,058 sq mi) 2.33 3,839,180 English
United States[n] Washington, D.C. 336,997,624 9,833,520 km2 (3,796,743 sq mi) 3.38 30,507,217
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Special arrangements

The three Nordic countries which joined NATO as founding members, Denmark, Iceland and Norway, chose to limit their participation in three areas: there would be no permanent peacetime bases, no nuclear warheads and no Allied military activity (unless invited) permitted on their territory. However, Denmark allowed the US to maintain an existing base, Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base), in Greenland.[15]

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, France pursued a military strategy of independence from NATO under a policy dubbed "Gaullo-Mitterrandism".[16] Nicolas Sarkozy negotiated the return of France to the integrated military command and the Defence Planning Committee in 2009, the latter being disbanded the following year. France remains the only NATO member outside the Nuclear Planning Group and unlike the United States and the United Kingdom, will not commit its nuclear-armed submarines to the alliance.[17][18]

Membership aspirations

As of March 2024, three additional states have formally informed NATO of their membership aspirations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, and Ukraine.[3]

Withdrawal

No state has ever withdrawn from NATO, but some dependencies of member states have not requested membership after becoming independent:

  • Cyprus (independence from the United Kingdom in 1960)
  • Algeria (independence from France in 1962)
  • Malta (independence from the United Kingdom in 1964)

Military personnel

The following list is constructed from The Military Balance, published annually by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

More information Country, Active ...
Numbers of military personnel
Country[20] Active Reserve Para­mili­tary Total Per 1,000 capita Ref.
totalactive
Albania Albania 5,350 2,100 2,150 9,600 3.1 1.7
Belgium Belgium 23,500 5,900 0 29,400 2.5 2
Bulgaria Bulgaria 36,950 3,000 0 39,950 5.9 5.4
Canada Canada 62,300 29,100 5,800 97,200 2.5 1.6
Croatia Croatia 16,800 21,000 3,000 40,800 9.8 4
Czech Republic Czech Republic 26,600 4,200 0 30,800 2.8 2.5 [21]
Denmark Denmark 13,100 44,200 0 57,300 9.6 2.2
Estonia Estonia 7,100 20,000 21,200 48,300 40.5 5.9
Finland Finland 23,850 233,000 2,900 259,750 46.2 4.2
France France 202,200 38,500 95,100 335,800 4.9 3
Germany Germany 179,850 34,100 0 213,950 2.5 2.1
Greece Greece 132,000 289,000 7,400 428,400 41 12.6
Hungary Hungary 32,150 20,000 0 52,150 5.3 3.3
Iceland Iceland 0 0 250 250 0.7 0
Italy Italy 161,850 14,500 178,600 354,950 5.8 2.7 [o]
Latvia Latvia 7,870 38,000 10,000 55,870 30 4.2 [22]
Lithuania Lithuania 16,100 12,950 18,400 47,450 18.1 6.1
Luxembourg Luxembourg 900 0 600 1,500 2.2 1.3
Montenegro Montenegro 2,710 2,800 4,100 9,610 16 4.5
Netherlands Netherlands 33,650 6,350 6,500 46,500 2.6 1.9
North Macedonia North Macedonia 8,000 4,850 7,600 20,450 9.6 3.7
Norway Norway 25,400 40,000 0 65,400 11.9 4.6
Poland Poland 164,100 37,500 14,300 215,900 5.6 4.2
Portugal Portugal 21,500 23,500 22,600 67,600 6.6 2.1
Romania Romania 69,900 55,000 57,000 181,900 10 3.9
Slovakia Slovakia 12,800 0 0 12,800 2.3 2.3
Slovenia Slovenia 6,200 950 0 7,150 3.4 3
Spain Spain 122,200 13,800 80,500 216,500 4.6 2.6
Sweden Sweden 14,850 21,500 0 36,350 3.4 1.4
Turkey Turkey 355,200 378,700 160,800 894,700 10.6 4.2
United Kingdom United Kingdom 141,100 70,450 0 211,550 3.1 2.1
United States United States 1,315,600 797,200 0 2,112,800 6.2 3.8
NATO NATO 3,240,410 2,233,850 688,800 6,163,060 6.3 3.3
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Military expenditures

Military spending of the US compared to 31 other NATO member countries (US$ millions).[p]
  1. United States (65.6%)
  2. All other NATO countries total (34.4%)
Total military spending of NATO member countries except the United States, and Sweden (US$ millions).[p][q]
  1. Greece (1.75%)
  2. Estonia (0.28%)
  3. Portugal (0.99%)
  4. Montenegro (0.03%)
  5. Lithuania (0.51%)
  6. Norway (2.05%)
  7. Turkey (4.42%)
  8. Latvia (0.25%)
  9. Denmark (1.91%)
  10. Croatia (0.34%)
  11. North Macedonia (0.06%)
  12. Romania (1.32%)
  13. Hungary (1.01%)
  14. Bulgaria (0.45%)
  15. Italy (7.63%)
  16. France (13.5%)
  17. Poland (7.50%)
  18. Spain (4.57%)
  19. Slovenia (0.21%)
  20. United Kingdom (18.0%)
  21. Slovakia (0.62%)
  22. Canada (6.56%)
  23. Germany (17.3%)
  24. Netherlands (3.85%)
  25. Other (4.93%)
United States and Sweden omitted – see above

The defence spending of the United States is more than double the defence spending of all other NATO members combined. (Note that this is total U.S. defense spending, not spending specifically for NATO)[23] Criticism of the fact that many member states were not contributing their fair share in accordance with the international agreement by then US president Donald Trump caused various reactions from American and European political figures, ranging from ridicule to panic.[24][25][26] While NATO members have committed to spending at least 2% of their Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defence, most of them did not meet that goal in 2023.[27]

Total military budget of European NATO countries (excluding Turkey) as a percentage of US military budget. Chinese and Russian military spending included for comparison[28]
More information Popu­lation, GDP(nomi­nal) ($billions) ...
Member state Popu­lation[r] GDP
(nomi­nal)
($billions)[s]		 Defence expenditure (US$)[s] Person­nel[s]
Total
($mil­lions)		% real GDP Per capita
Albania3,101,62125.435162.031147,000
Belgium11,913,633655.748,5191.3058521,300
Bulgaria6,827,736106.722,3252.1821826,900
Canada38,516,7362,233.8330,4951.3760977,100
Croatia4,169,23989.901,6241.8131513,700
Czech Republic10,706,242326.136,8342.1042629,500
Denmark6,057,361418.589,9402.371,47917,300
Estonia1,202,76241.891,4373.436907,500
Finland5,614,571302.727,3082.411,10330,800
France62,819,4283,120.3564,2712.06801204,700
Germany84,220,1844,610.0497,6862.12911185,600
Greece10,497,595249.817,6843.08648110,800
Hungary9,670,009231.614,8892.1134920,900
Iceland360,87232.89N/aN/aN/aN/a
Italy61,021,8552,311.1734,4621.49505171,400
Latvia1,821,75045.151,4213.155398,400
Lithuania2,655,75580.722,3002.8553818,500
Luxembourg660,92460.697851.29921900
Montenegro602,4458.021622.021701,600
Netherlands17,463,9301,162.8821,6401.851,03041,900
North Macedonia2,133,41015.873532.221276,100
Norway5,600,850482.5810,6062.201,75424,300
Poland37,991,766848.8634,9754.12711216,100
Portugal10,223,150298.984,6271.5536028,400
Romania18,326,327383.928,6442.2528966,600
Slovakia5,425,319142.812,8411.9938715,600
Slovenia2,099,79073.529491.293395,900
Spain47,051,0851,658.3621,2691.28366117,400
Sweden10,536,338626.5413,4282.141,18523,100
Turkey83,593,4831,090.2922,7762.09310481,000
United Kingdom68,502,9563,520.5082,1072.331,077138,100
United States338,229,98028,719.94967,7073.372,2391,300,200
NATO969,619,19253,976.441,474,3992.731,2103,418,600
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Political and popular support

Pew Research Center's 2016 survey among its member states showed that while most countries viewed NATO positively, most NATO members preferred keeping their military spending the same. The response to whether their country should militarily aid another NATO country if it were to get into a serious military conflict with Russia was also mixed. Roughly half or fewer in six of the eight countries surveyed say their country should use military force if Russia attacks a neighboring country that is a NATO ally. And at least half in three of the eight NATO countries say that their government should not use military force in such circumstances. The strongest opposition to responding with armed force is in Germany (58%), followed by France (53%) and Italy (51%). More than half of Americans (56%) and Canadians (53%) are willing to respond to Russian military aggression against a fellow NATO country. A plurality of the British (49%) and Poles (48%) would also live up to their Article 5 commitment. The Spanish are divided on the issue: 48% support it, 47% oppose.[31][32]

YouGov, a market research company that is mainly active in the UK also hosts a regularly updated public opinion polling for NATO. As of 6 January 2025, 45% of UK citizens strongly support NATO, 31% Tend to support NATO, 18% Don't know, 3% Tend to oppose and 3% Strongly oppose. Older people (65+) Strongly support NATO at 59%, whilst in younger demographics (18-24), Tend to support ranks the highest at 34%, and Don't know is at 33%.[33]

A 2025 poll found that support for NATO membership was 52%, compared to the 66% of Slovenians who voted for NATO membership in a referendum in 2003.[34][35]

Notes

  1. [a]
    Founding member of NATO.
  2. [b]
    Officially referred to by the name Czechia. (See Czech Republic#Name.)
  3. [c]
    Including the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
  4. [d]
    including Faroe Islands and Greenland.
  5. [e]
    Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty does not cover overseas territories of France apart from Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
  6. [f]
    Germany initially joined NATO as West Germany. The former country of East Germany became part of NATO after German reunification.
  7. [g]
    Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty covers only the European part of The Netherlands.
  8. [h]
    Figure includes the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius, but they don't fall under the NATO treaty.
  9. [i]
    Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty does not cover Bouvet Island.
  10. [j]
    Including Jan Mayen, and Svalbard.
  11. [k]
    Excluding the Plazas de soberanía region.
  12. [l]
    Officially referred to by the name Türkiye. (See Name of Turkey.)
  13. [m]
    Including Bermuda, Gibraltar, Guernsey, Isle of Man, and Jersey. Other overseas territories are not covered under Article 5.
  14. [n]
    Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty covers neither Hawaii nor any of the US territories.
  15. [o]
    The paramilitary forces of Italy consist of the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza.
  16. [p]
    Country order is the same as the preceding chart (military personnel per 1,000 capita) to maintain the same country colours between charts.
  17. [q]
    The pie chart format does not allow as many slices as there are countries in NATO, so certain countries (Albania, Belgium, Czech Republic, Finland, Iceland and Luxembourg) have been combined into a single slice.
  18. [r]
    Population data is based on a 2023 estimate by the Central Intelligence Agency in The World Factbook.[29]
  19. [s]
    Defence expenditure, GDP and personnel data are based on a June 2024 press release from NATO.[30]

References

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