By the numbers | US has not spent 5% of GDP on defence since the Cold War

President Trump has been calling on US allies and partners to spend more on defence. In January he said NATO allies should lift their target defence spending from 2% to 5% of GDP. Allies around the world are trying to be on the front foot with many sharing their plans to increase spending. UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer announced a .2% of GDP increase in military spending by 2027 with plans to hit 3% of GDP spent on the military by the mid 2030s ahead of his meeting with President Trump in the Oval Office. Australia has also projected an increase from 1.9% to 2.3% of GDP in defence spending by the mid 2030s.

While relatively stable over the last 10 years across many US allies and partners, there was an upward trend in defence spending from 2021 to 2023. US defence spending declined as a percentage of GDP from the Obama administration to the first Trump administration until 2020 when it climbed back up to 3.65%. Even then, the United States has not spent 5% of GDP on military expenses since 1990, at the end of the Cold War.