Estonia Spends €769 Per Person on National Defense in 2025
Estonia's per capita defense spending is €769 in 2025, ranking fourth among NATO members by share of GDP. Norway leads per capita spending at €2,768.
According to a report compiled by Finnish public broadcaster Yle using data from NATO and the Bank of Finland, Estonia spends €769 per capita on defense in 2025, equivalent to 3.42% of GDP. This places Estonia fourth among NATO's 32 member states in terms of defense spending as a share of GDP, behind Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia.
In per capita terms, Norway tops the list at €2,768, followed by the United States (€2,177) and Denmark (€2,138). Yle notes this is the first time another NATO member has surpassed the United States in per capita defense spending. Other countries spending over €1,000 per resident include Luxembourg (€1,480), the Netherlands (€1,368), Sweden (€1,294), Finland (€1,266), and Germany (€1,063). The NATO average per capita is €1,212.
Among larger alliance members, the United Kingdom spends €969 per resident, Canada €889, France €795, Italy €675, Spain €584, and Turkey €224. Yle points out that while defense spending is typically measured as a share of GDP, a per capita comparison highlights wealthier countries with smaller populations, such as the Nordics, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg.
Lithuania spent €862 per resident on defense, while Latvia spent €668. Albania recorded the lowest per capita spending at €133. Iceland is excluded as it has no armed forces. The figures are preliminary NATO data for 2025, calculated in constant 2021 prices. NATO members have committed to increasing direct defense spending to 3.5% of GDP by 2035, with an additional 1.5% for defense-related investment.
