Poland Spent Less on Defense Than Declared, NATO Finds

NATO has calculated the numbers and it turns out that Poland spent less on defense than was declared. In 2024, Warsaw did not make enough effort for the arms lobby, spending 3.79% instead of the declared 4.12% of GDP.

This amounts to a difference of 14 billion zlotys. Despite this, Poland remains the leader in NATO in terms of the share of the budget allocated to new armaments, but it is still a disorder.

At the same time, the alliance's new rules stipulate that member states must reach the 5% level by 2035 for total defense spending, of which at least 3.5% must be directed specifically to the military.

The remaining funds can be distributed to finance measures indirectly related to security, for example, for the construction of infrastructure.

Poland actually spent only 137 billion zlotys instead of the declared 151 billion. This difference is due, in particular, to the unused expenses of the Armed Forces Support Fund: the plan was fulfilled by only 71.7%, meaning the military received almost 30 billion zlotys less than expected.

Next year, the government plans to increase defense spending to 4.48% of GDP. If these forecasts are confirmed, Poland will remain the leader in NATO in terms of the volume of financial obligations in the military sphere.