Member states of NATO

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) 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. 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.[1] 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.

For the history of states becoming NATO members, see Enlargement of NATO.

Of the 32 member countries, 30 are in Europe and two are in North America. Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors were set up, including the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative, and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council.

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.[2]

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

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 sign 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). In 1990, the territory of the former East Germany was added with the reunification of Germany. 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.

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

Membership aspirations

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

List of member states

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

FlagMapNameCapital Accession[8] Population [9][10] Area
[11]		 Military budget as %GDP 2020[12] GDP 2020 USD[13] Languages
AlbaniaTirana1 April 2009 002,854,71028,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi) 1.515,131,866,271 Albanian
BelgiumBrussels 24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 011,611,41930,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi) 1.1521,676,942,135 Dutch
French
German
BulgariaSofia 29 March 2004 006,885,868110,879 km2 (42,811 sq mi) 1.869,889,347,433 Bulgarian
CanadaOttawa 24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 038,155,0129,984,670 km2 (3,855,103 sq mi) 1.41,645,423,407,568 English
French
CroatiaZagreb1 April 2009 004,060,13556,594 km2 (21,851 sq mi) 1.879,163,000,000 Croatian
Czech Republic[lower-alpha 2] Prague12 March 1999 010,510,75178,867 km2 (30,451 sq mi) 1.4245,339,322,067 Czech
Denmark[lower-alpha 3] Copenhagen24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 005,854,2402,210,573 km2 (853,507 sq mi)[lower-alpha 4] 1.4356,084,867,686 Danish
EstoniaTallinn29 March 2004 001,328,70145,228 km2 (17,463 sq mi) 2.330,650,285,472 Estonian
FinlandHelsinki4 April 2023 005,535,992338,455 km2 (130,678 sq mi) 1.5269,751,000,000 Finnish
Swedish
France[lower-alpha 5] Paris24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 064,531,444643,427 km2 (248,429 sq mi) 2.12,630,317,731,455 French
Germany[lower-alpha 6] Berlin6 May 1955
(West Germany)
3 October 1990
(Germany)		 083,408,554357,022 km2 (137,847 sq mi) 1.43,846,413,928,654 German
GreeceAthens18 February 1952 010,445,365131,957 km2 (50,949 sq mi) 2.8188,835,201,626 Greek
HungaryBudapest12 March 1999 009,709,78693,028 km2 (35,918 sq mi) 1.6156,743,134,666 Hungarian
IcelandReykjavík24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 000,370,335103,000 km2 (39,769 sq mi) 0.021,718,075,725 Icelandic
ItalyRome 059,240,329301,340 km2 (116,348 sq mi) 1.61,892,574,064,222 Italian
LatviaRiga29 March 2004 001,873,91964,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi) 2.333,645,460,617 Latvian
LithuaniaVilnius 002,786,65165,300 km2 (25,212 sq mi) 2.156,546,957,475 Lithuanian
LuxembourgLuxembourg24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 000,639,3212,586 km2 (998 sq mi) 0.873,353,132,794 Luxembourgish
French
German
MontenegroPodgorica5 June 2017 000,627,85913,812 km2 (5,333 sq mi) 2.14,780,722,122 Montenegrin
Netherlands[lower-alpha 7] Amsterdam24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 017,501,69641,543 km2 (16,040 sq mi)[lower-alpha 8] 1.4913,865,395,790 Dutch
North MacedoniaSkopje27 March 2020 002,103,330 25,713 km2 (9,928 sq mi) 1.312,116,981,815 Macedonian
Norway[lower-alpha 9] Oslo24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 005,403,021323,802 km2 (125,021 sq mi)[lower-alpha 10] 1.9362,198,318,435 Norwegian
PolandWarsaw12 March 1999 038,307,726312,685 km2 (120,728 sq mi) 2.2596,624,355,720 Polish
PortugalLisbon24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 010,290,10392,090 km2 (35,556 sq mi) 2.1228,539,245,045 Portuguese
RomaniaBucharest29 March 2004 019,328,560238,391 km2 (92,043 sq mi) 2.3249,511,333,648 Romanian
SlovakiaBratislava 005,447,62249,035 km2 (18,933 sq mi) 1.8105,172,564,492 Slovakian
SloveniaLjubljana 002,119,41020,273 km2 (7,827 sq mi) 1.153,589,609,581 Slovenian
Spain[lower-alpha 11] Madrid30 May 1982 047,486,935505,370 km2 (195,124 sq mi) 1.41,281,484,640,044 Spanish
SwedenStockholm7 March 2024 010,467,097450,295 km2 (173,860 sq mi) 1.3547,050,000,000 Swedish
Turkey[lower-alpha 12] Ankara18 February 1952 084,775,404783,562 km2 (302,535 sq mi) 2.8719,954,821,683 Turkish
United Kingdom[lower-alpha 13] London24 August 1949[lower-alpha 1] 067,281,039243,610 km2 (94,058 sq mi) 2.22,756,900,214,107 English
United States[lower-alpha 14] Washington, D.C. 336,997,6249,833,520 km2 (3,796,743 sq mi) 3.720,893,743,833,000

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 U.S. to maintain an existing base, Thule Air Base (now Pituffik Space Base), in Greenland.[14]

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, France pursued a military strategy of independence from NATO under a policy dubbed "Gaullo-Mitterrandism".[15] 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.[16][17]

Military personnel
Comparison of total military personnel per 1,000 capita
50
100
150
200
250
300
Countries (see legend)
  •   Estonia
  •   Finland
  •   Greece
  •   Portugal
  •   Montenegro
  •   Lithuania
  •   Norway
  •   Turkey
  •   Latvia
  •   Denmark
  •   Croatia
  •   North Macedonia
  •   Romania
  •   Hungary
  •   United States
  •   Bulgaria
  •   Italy
  •   Sweden
  •   France
  •   Poland
  •   Spain
  •   Slovenia
  •   United Kingdom
  •   Slovakia
  •   Canada
  •   Germany
  •   Albania
  •   Czech Republic
  •   Belgium
  •   Netherlands
  •   Luxembourg
  •   Iceland

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

Numbers of military personnel
Country[18] Active Reserve Para­mili­tary Total Per 1,000 capita
totalactive
Albania 10,500 0 500 11,000 3.6 3.4
Belgium 29,400 5,900 0 35,300 3 2.5
Bulgaria 42,663 3,000 0 45,663 6.6 6.2
Canada 70,500 35,600 5,500 111,600 2.9 1.9
Croatia 16,700 21,000 3,000 40,700 9.7 4
Czech Republic 27,400 4,200 0 31,600 3 2.6
Denmark 20,440 45,800 0 66,240 11.2 3.5
Estonia 7,600 230,000 15,800 253,400 207.7 6.2
Finland 24,250 900,000 14,321 938,571 168.7 4.4
France 208,750 141,050 175,050 524,850 7.7 3.1
Germany 184,100 50,050 0 234,150 2.9 2.3
Greece 143,300 221,350 4,000 368,650 34.8 13.5
Hungary 41,600 20,000 12,000 73,600 7.6 4.3
Iceland 250 250 250 750 2.1 0.7
Italy[lower-alpha 15] 175,100 18,300 182,350 375,750 6 2.8
Latvia 16,700 36,000 0 52,700 28.3 9
Lithuania 23,000 90,000 14,150 127,150 46.9 8.5
Luxembourg 940 0 600 1,540 2.4 1.5
Montenegro 2,350 2,800 10,100 15,250 25.1 3.9
Netherlands 41,543 6,643 6,500 54,686 3.2 2.4
North Macedonia 8,000 26,850 7,600 42,450 19.9 3.8
Norway 25,400 40,000 0 65,400 11.9 4.6
Poland 164,500 200,000 75,400 439,900 11.5 4.3
Portugal 33,200 211,700 24,700 269,600 26.3 3.2
Romania 72,000 55,000 79,900 206,900 9.7 3.4
Slovakia 19,500 0 0 19,500 3.6 3.6
Slovenia 7,500 26,200 5,950 39,650 18.9 3.6
Spain 133,282 15,450 75,800 224,532 4.8 2.8
Sweden 24,400 32,900 0 57,300 5.4 2.3
Turkey 690,811 380,700 192,534 1,264,045 15.3 8.4
United Kingdom 196,453 78,600 0 275,053 4.2 3
United States 1,598,287 1,072,543 0 2,670,830 8 4.8
NATO 3,869,402 3,768,103 870,271 8,507,776 1,000 454.8

Military expenditures

Military spending of the US compared to 29 other NATO member countries (all except Finland and Sweden) (US$ millions).[lower-alpha 16]

  United States (70.46%)
  All other NATO countries total[lower-alpha 17][lower-alpha 18] (29.53%)

Total military spending of NATO member countries except the United States, Finland and Sweden (US$ millions).[lower-alpha 16][lower-alpha 19]

  Greece (1.58%)
  Estonia (0.21%)
  Portugal (1.09%)
  Montenegro (0.03%)
  Lithuania (0.35%)
  Norway (2.34%)
  Turkey (4.54%)
  Latvia (0.23%)
  Denmark (1.55%)
  Croatia (0.35%)
  North Macedonia (0.035%)
  Romania (1.64%)
  Hungary (0.67%)
  Bulgaria (0.35%)
  Italy (7.99%)
  France (16.55%)
  Poland (3.91%)
  Spain (4.29%)
  Slovenia (0.18%)
  United Kingdom (19.72%)
  Slovakia (0.62%)
  Canada (7.15%)
  Germany (17.68%)
  Netherlands (4.05%)
  Other (2.895%)

United States, Finland 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.[19] 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.[20][21][22]

Total Military budget of European NATO countries (excluding Turkey) as a percentage of US military budget. Chinese and Russian military spending included for comparison[23]
Member state Popu­lation[lower-alpha 20] GDP
(nomi­nal)
($billions)[lower-alpha 21]		 Defence expenditure (US$)[lower-alpha 22] Person­nel[lower-alpha 22]
Total
($mil­lions)		 % real GDP Per capitaPer 1,000
personnel
($millions)
 Albania3,101,62120.181981.2658296,800
 Belgium11,913,633624.254,9210.9339218926,000
 Bulgaria6,827,736100.641,0791.611324325,000
 Canada38,516,7362,089.6721,8851.2756930472,000
 Croatia4,169,23978.891,0721.752387115,000
 Czech Republic10,706,242330.482,9691.1923611426,000
 Denmark6,057,361405.634,7601.3576028017,000
 Estonia1,202,76241.556692.134291066,300
 Finland5,614,571301.674,046
 France62,819,4282,923.9350,6591.84709244208,000
 Germany84,220,1844,308.8554,1131.36591294184,000
 Greece10,497,595239.304,8442.2443146105,000
 Hungary9,670,009188.512,0801.2117810420,000
 Iceland360,87228.63—————
 Italy61,021,8552,169.7524,4821.22385137179,000
 Latvia1,821,75047.407242.013251136,400
 Lithuania2,655,75578.351,0842.133365321,000
 Luxembourg660,92486.973910.55552434900
 Montenegro602,4457.03921.65126581,600
 Netherlands17,463,9301,080.8812,4191.3565530341,000
 North Macedonia2,133,41015.281081.0951157,200
 Norway5,600,850554.107,1791.701,30835920,000
 Poland37,991,766748.8911,9712.0129697123,000
 Portugal10,223,150267.723,3581.4129911230,000
 Romania18,326,327348.905,0432.042257369,000
 Slovakia5,425,319127.531,9051.7432214713,000
 Slovenia2,099,79068.115811.04253856,800
 Spain47,051,0851,492.4313,1560.92264109121,000
 Sweden10,536,338
 Turkey83,593,4831,029.3013,9191.8922532435,000
 United Kingdom68,502,9563,158.9460,3762.13979419144,000
 United States338,229,98026,854.60730,1493.422,0725461,338,000
 NATO969,619,19249,818.361,036,1862.511,0453173,268,000

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.[27][28]

Notes
  1. Founding member of NATO.
  2. Officially referred to by the name Czechia. (See Czech Republic#Name.)
  3. Denmark consists of Denmark proper, the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
  4. including Faroe Islands and Greenland.
  5. Excluding all overseas territories of France apart from Saint Pierre and Miquelon.
  6. Germany initially joined NATO as West Germany. The former country of East Germany became part of NATO after German reunification.
  7. Only the European part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands is part of NATO.
  8. Figure includes the islands of Bonaire, Saba and Sint Eustatius, but they don't fall under the NATO treaty.
  9. Excluding Bouvet Island.
  10. Including Jan Mayen, and Svalbard.
  11. Excluding the Plazas de soberanía region.
  12. Officially referred to by the name Türkiye. (See Name of Turkey.)
  13. Including Gibraltar and Bermuda. The crown dependencies and other overseas territories are excluded.
  14. Only includes the continental states, Alaska and Washington, D.C.. Hawaii and the territories of the United States don't fall under the NATO treaty.
  15. The paramilitary forces of Italy consist of the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza.
  16. Country order is the same as the preceding chart (military personnel per 1,000 capita) to maintain the same country colours between charts.
  17. Except Finland
  18. Except Sweden
  19. The pie chart format does not allow as many slices as there are countries in NATO, so the countries with the fewest military personnel per capita (Albania, Belgium, Czech Republic, Iceland and Luxembourg) have been combined into a single slice.
  20. Population data is based on a 2023 estimate by the Central Intelligence Agency in The World Factbook.[24]
  21. Gross domestic product (nominal) data (in billions of US dollars) is based on an April 2023 issue of the World Economic Outlook, which is published by the International Monetary Fund.[25]
  22. Defence expenditure and personnel data are based on a June 2019 press release from NATO.[26]

References

Citations
  1. "The North Atlantic Treaty". North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 4 April 1949. Archived from the original on 1 March 2022. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
  2. Center, Notre Dame International Security (23 March 2023). "The Addition of NATO Members Over Time (1949–2023)". ND International Security Center. Archived from the original on 21 January 2024. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  3. "Enlargement and Article 10". NATO. 10 June 2022. Archived from the original on 9 June 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2022. Currently, five partner countries have declared their aspirations to NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine.
  4. NATO. "Member countries". NATO. Archived from the original on 19 November 2014. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  5. Mosquera, Andrés B. Muñoz (2019). "The North Atlantic Treaty: Article 9 and NATO's Institutionalization". Volume 34. Emory International Law Review. Archived from the original on 26 November 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022. Really, the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and International Staff signed in Ottawa
  6. "03. Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and International Staff, done at Ottawa September 20, 1951". US Department of State. Archived from the original on 30 November 2022. Retrieved 3 July 2022.
  7. NATO. "Enlargement and Article 10". NATO. Archived from the original on 11 March 2018. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
  8. "Member countries". NATO. 11 March 2024. Archived from the original on 14 March 2024.
  9. "World Population Prospects 2022". United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  10. "World Population Prospects 2022: Demographic indicators by region, subregion and country, annually for 1950-2100" (XSLX) ("Total Population, as of 1 July (thousands)"). United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Population Division. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  11. "Field Listing :: Area". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 13 June 2007. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
  12. "Military expenditure by country as percentage of gross domestic product, 1949-2020" (XLSX). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 26 April 2021. Retrieved 6 May 2021.
  13. "DataBank: World Development Indicators". World Bank. Retrieved 14 December 2022.
  14. "Denmark and NATO – 1949". Archived from the original on 13 April 2022. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  15. "Why the concept of Gaullo-Mitterrandism is still relevant". IRIS. 29 April 2019. Archived from the original on 7 March 2022. Retrieved 7 March 2022.
  16. Cody, Edward (12 March 2009). "After 43 Years, France to Rejoin NATO as Full Member". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 26 October 2017. Retrieved 19 December 2011.
  17. Stratton, Allegra (17 June 2008). "Sarkozy military plan unveiled". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
  18. The International Institute for Strategic Studies (February 2022). The Military Balance 2022. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-032-27900-8. ISSN 0459-7222.
  19. Friedman, George (24 January 2017). "Where Does The Relationship Between NATO And The U.S. Go From Here?". Huffington Post. Archived from the original on 29 January 2024. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  20. Birnbaum, Michael; Gibbons-Neff, Thomas (8 April 2023). "NATO allies boost defense spending in the wake of Trump criticism". Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on 1 September 2022. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  21. Mortimer, Caroline (19 March 2017). "Ex-US ambassador in withering criticism of Trump on Nato". The Independent. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  22. Ridgwell, Henry (25 January 2017). "Shaken by Trump's Criticism of NATO, Europe Mulls Building Own Military Force". Voice Of America. Archived from the original on 3 April 2023. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  23. "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database". Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2023. doi:10.55163/cqgc9685. Archived from the original on 2 May 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2024.
  24. "Country Comparisons — Population". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 1 September 2021. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
  25. "GDP, current prices". International Monetary Fund. Archived from the original on 19 October 2019. Retrieved 11 July 2023.
  26. "Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2012–2019)" (PDF). NATO. 25 June 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on 30 October 2018. Retrieved 30 March 2020.
  27. Cuddington, Danielle (6 July 2016). "Support for NATO is widespread among member nations". Pew Research. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 15 August 2017.
  28. Emmott, Robin (23 May 2017). "U.S. would defend NATO despite Trump's criticism, Europeans believe: study". Reuters. Archived from the original on 4 April 2023. Retrieved 28 January 2024.

Bibliography
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