NATO-Russia Compendium of Financial and Economic Data Relating to Defence

Defence Expenditures of NRC Countries (1985-2007)

The figures given in Table 1 represent payments actually made or to be made during the course of the fiscal year. They are based on the NATO definition of defence expenditures. In view of the differences between this and national definitions, the figures shown may diverge considerably from those which are quoted by national authorities or given in national budgets. For countries providing military assistance, this is included in the expenditures figures. For countries receiving assistance, figures do not include the value of items received. Expenditures for research and development are included in equipment expenditures and pensions paid to retirees in personnel expenditures.

Defence expenditures as of 2002 and personnel figures as of 2003 have been calculated on the basis of the revised NATO definition agreed in 2004, which excluded expenditure on Other Forces from the totals reported to NATO, except in the case of those elements of Other Forces which are structured, equipped and trained to support defence forces and which are realistically deployable. Most nations have reported defence expenditures according to this new definition, and in some cases (Greece, Hungary, Portugal and Turkey), this has resulted in a significant apparent decrease in defence expenditures. A few, however (France, Italy and Luxembourg), continue to have difficulty meeting this requirement and the data provided by these countries did not fully accord with the new NATO definition on defence expenditures. For the Russian Federation, data was provided based on the previous NATO definition.

Summary

Table 1:	Total defence expenditures
Table 2:	Gross domestic product (GDP) and defence expenditure annual volume change
Table 3:	Defence expenditures as % of GDP
Table 4:	GDP and defence expenditures per capita
Table 5:	Distribution of defence expenditures by category
Table 6:	Armed forces

 

Reader's guide

France is a member of the Alliance but does not belong to the integrated military structure and does not participate in collective force planning. The defence data relating to France are indicative only. According to the new budgetary reform and the financial law, from 2006 on, defence expenditure and strength figures are calculated with a new accounting methodology.

Iceland has no armed forces.

The Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland joined the Alliance in 1999.

From 2001 on, United Kingdom has changed its accounting system for defence expenditures from “cash basis” to “resource basis”.

For nine European NATO member countries, monetary values are expressed in national currencies up to 2001. As from 2002, they are expressed in euros. From 2007 onwards, Slovenian monetary values are also expressed in euros.

Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, the Slovak Republic and Slovenia joined the Alliance in 2004.

From 2005 onwards, monetary values for Romania and Turkey are expressed in new currency units.

To avoid any ambiguity the fiscal year has been designated by the year which includes the highest number of months: e.g. 2006 represents the fiscal year 2006/2007 for Canada and United Kingdom and the fiscal year 2005/2006 for the United States.

Because of rounding, the total figures may differ from the sum of their components.

Conventional signs:

e	estimated	-	nil
..	not available	//	not applicable
|	break in continuity of series	.	decimal point

 

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