How many countries are in NATO list?

NATO is an Alliance that consists of 30 independent member countries. Country by country, this page offers an overview of the links to national information servers and to the website of national delegations to NATO.

Current NATO members highlighted in blue

Timeline of countries becoming NATO members as of 2020. Dark blue marks countries that were already NATO members at the given time. Light blue marks new members.

NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an international military alliance that consists of 30 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. As such, an attack on Hawaii, Puerto Rico, French Guiana, Ceuta, or Melilla, among other places, would not trigger an Article 5 response.

Of the 30 member countries, 28 are in Europe and two in North America. Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbours 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 new member joined in 1982. After the end of the Cold War, NATO added 14 more members from 1999 to 2020.

NATO currently recognizes Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden, and Ukraine as aspiring members as part of their Open Doors enlargement policy.[2]

Map of NATO in Europe. Blue: current members, light blue: countries in the process of accession, purple: countries seeking membership, grey: membership is not a goal, red: CSTO.

Founding members and enlargement[edit]

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.[3]

The various allies all sign the Ottawa Agreement,[4] which is a 1951 document that acts to embody civilian oversight of the Alliance.[5][4]

Current membership consists of 30 countries. In addition to the 12 founding countries, four new members joined during the Cold War: Greece (1952), 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) and North Macedonia (2020).[3] Of the territories and members added between 1990 and 2020, all were either formerly part of the Warsaw Pact (including the formerly Soviet Baltic states) or territories of the former Yugoslavia (which was not a Warsaw Pact member). No countries have left NATO since its founding.

Membership aspirations[edit]

As of June 2022, five additional states have formally informed NATO of their membership aspirations: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine.[2]

• NATO members agreed at the 2008 Bucharest Summit that Georgia and Ukraine "will become members of NATO in the future".[6]
• Bosnia and Herzegovina was invited by NATO to join the Membership Action Plan (MAP) in April 2010.[6]
• In May 2022, Finland and Sweden simultaneously submitted official application letters to become NATO members.[7][8]

List of member countries[edit]

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

Flag	Map	Name	Capital	Accession[9]	Population[a]	Area[11]	Military budget as %GDP 2020[12]	GDP 2020 US$[13]
		Albania	Tirana	1 April 2009	3,088,385	28,748 km2 (11,100 sq mi)	1.5	15,131,866,271
		Belgium	Brussels	24 August 1949[b]	11,778,842	30,528 km2 (11,787 sq mi)	1.1	521,676,942,135
		Bulgaria	Sofia	29 March 2004	6,919,180	110,879 km2 (42,811 sq mi)	1.8	69,889,347,433
		Canada	Ottawa	24 August 1949[b]	37,943,231	9,984,670 km2 (3,855,103 sq mi)	1.4	1,645,423,407,568
		Croatia	Zagreb	1 April 2009	4,208,973	56,594 km2 (21,851 sq mi)	1.8	57,203,783,203
		Czech Republic[c]	Prague	12 March 1999	10,702,596	78,867 km2 (30,451 sq mi)	1.4	245,339,322,067
		Denmark	Copenhagen	24 August 1949[b]	5,894,687	42,943 km2 (16,580 sq mi)[14] 2,210,573 km2 (853,507 sq mi)[d]	1.4	356,084,867,686
		Estonia	Tallinn	29 March 2004	1,220,042	45,228 km2 (17,463 sq mi)	2.3	30,650,285,472
		France	Paris	24 August 1949[b]	68,084,217	643,427 km2 (248,429 sq mi)	2.1	2,630,317,731,455
		Germany[e]	Berlin	6 May 1955 (West Germany) 3 October 1990 (Germany)	79,903,481	357,022 km2 (137,847 sq mi)	1.4	3,846,413,928,654
		Greece	Athens	18 February 1952	10,569,703	131,957 km2 (50,949 sq mi)	2.8	188,835,201,626
		Hungary	Budapest	12 March 1999	9,728,337	93,028 km2 (35,918 sq mi)	1.6	156,743,134,666
		Iceland	Reykjavík	24 August 1949[b]	354,234	103,000 km2 (39,769 sq mi)	0.0	21,718,075,725
		Italy	Rome	62,390,364	301,340 km2 (116,348 sq mi)	1.6	1,892,574,064,222
		Latvia	Riga	29 March 2004	1,862,687	64,589 km2 (24,938 sq mi)	2.3	33,645,460,617
		Lithuania	Vilnius	2,711,566	65,300 km2 (25,212 sq mi)	2.1	56,546,957,475
		Luxembourg	Luxembourg	24 August 1949[b]	639,589	2,586 km2 (998 sq mi)	0.8	73,353,132,794
		Montenegro	Podgorica	5 June 2017	607,414	13,812 km2 (5,333 sq mi)	2.1	4,780,722,122
		Netherlands	Amsterdam	24 August 1949[b]	17,337,403	41,543 km2 (16,040 sq mi)	1.4	913,865,395,790
		North Macedonia	Skopje	27 March 2020	2,128,262[f]	25,713 km2 (9,928 sq mi)	1.3	12,116,981,815
		Norway	Oslo	24 August 1949[b]	5,509,591	323,802 km2 (125,021 sq mi)	1.9	362,198,318,435
		Poland	Warsaw	12 March 1999	38,185,913	312,685 km2 (120,728 sq mi)	2.2	596,624,355,720
		Portugal	Lisbon	24 August 1949[b]	10,263,850	92,090 km2 (35,556 sq mi)	2.1	228,539,245,045
		Romania	Bucharest	29 March 2004	21,230,362	238,391 km2 (92,043 sq mi)	2.3	249,511,333,648
		Slovakia	Bratislava	5,436,066	49,035 km2 (18,933 sq mi)	1.8	105,172,564,492
		Slovenia	Ljubljana	2,102,106	20,273 km2 (7,827 sq mi)	1.1	53,589,609,581
		Spain	Madrid	30 May 1982	47,260,584	505,370 km2 (195,124 sq mi)	1.4	1,281,484,640,044
		Turkey[g]	Ankara	18 February 1952	82,482,383	783,562 km2 (302,535 sq mi)	2.8	719,954,821,683
		United Kingdom	London	24 August 1949[b]	67,081,000	243,610 km2 (94,058 sq mi)	2.2	2,756,900,214,107
		United States	Washington, D.C.	334,998,398	9,833,520 km2 (3,796,743 sq mi)	3.7	20,893,743,833,000

Special arrangements[edit]

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. Air Force to maintain an existing base, Thule Air Base, in Greenland.[16]

From the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s, France pursued a military strategy of independence from NATO under a policy dubbed "Gaullo-Mitterrandism".[17] 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.[18][19]

Military personnel[edit]

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

	Country	Active	Reserve	Paramilitary	Total	Per 1,000 capita
(total)	(active)
	Albania[20]	7,500	0	500	8,000	2.6	2.4
	Belgium[20]	24,450	5,900	0	30,350	2.6	2.1
	Bulgaria[20]	36,950	3,000	0	39,950	5.8	5.3
	Canada[20]	66,500	34,400	4,500	105,400	2.8	1.8
	Croatia[20]	16,700	21,000	3,000	40,700	9.7	4
	Czech Republic[20]	26,600	3,640	0	30,240	2.8	2.5
	Denmark[20]	15,400	44,200	0	59,600	10.1	2.6
	Estonia[20]	7,200	17,500	15,800	40,500	33.2	5.9
	France[20]	203,250	41,050	100,500	344,800	5.1	3
	Germany[20]	183,400	30,050	0	213,450	2.7	2.3
	Greece[20]	143,300	221,350	4,000	368,650	34.8	13.5
	Hungary[20]	34,200	20,000	12,000	66,200	6.8	3.5
	Iceland[20]	0	250	250	500	1.4	0
	Italy[20][h]	161,550	17,900	176,350	355,800	5.7	2.6
	Latvia[20]	8,750	11,200	0	19,950	10.7	4.7
	Lithuania[20]	23,000	7,100	14,150	44,250	16.3	8.5
	Luxembourg[20]	410	0	600	1,010	1.6	0.6
	Montenegro[20]	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[20]	8,000	4,850	7,600	20,450	9.6	3.8
	Norway[20]	25,400	40,000	0	65,400	11.9	4.6
	Poland[20]	114,050	0	75,400	189,450	5	3
	Portugal[20]	27,250	211,700	24,700	263,650	25.7	2.7
	Romania[20]	71,500	55,000	57,000	183,500	8.6	3.4
	Slovakia[20]	17,950	0	0	17,950	3.3	3.3
	Slovenia[20]	6,950	1,200	0	8,150	3.9	3.3
	Spain[20]	122,850	14,900	75,800	213,550	4.5	2.6
	Turkey[20]	355,200	378,700	156,800	890,700	10.8	4.3
	United Kingdom[20]	194,200	37,450	0	231,650	3.5	2.9
	United States[20]	1,395,350	843,450	0	2,238,800	6.7	4.2
	NATO	3,292,810	2,108,950	745,550	6,147,310	6.5	3.5

Military expenditures[edit]

Military spending of the US compared to total of all 29 other NATO member countries (US$ millions).[i]

  United States (70.46%)

  All other NATO countries total (29.53%)

Total military spending of NATO member countries except the United States (US$ millions).[i][j]

  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 omitted - see above

The defence spending of the United States is more than double the defence spending of all other NATO members combined.[21] 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.[22][23][24]

Total Military budget of European NATO countries (excluding Turkey) as a percentage of US military budget. Chinese and Russian military spending included for comparison[25]

This section needs to be updated. Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. (April 2022)

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.[26][27]

Member state	Population[a]	GDP (nominal)[k]	Defence expenditure (US$)[l]	Personnel[l]
Total ($millions)	% real GDP	Per capita	Per 1000 personnel ($millions)
Albania	3,074,579	16.75	198	1.26	58	29	6,800
Belgium	11,720,716	529.55	4,921	0.93	392	189	26,000
Bulgaria	6,966,899	70.13	1,079	1.61	132	43	25,000
Canada	38,436,447	2,016.00	21,885	1.27	569	304	72,000
Croatia	4,227,746	63.17	1,072	1.75	238	71	15,000
Czech Republic	10,702,498	261.73	2,969	1.19	236	114	26,000
Denmark	5,869,410	360.51	4,760	1.35	760	280	17,000
Estonia	1,228,624	32.74	669	2.13	429	106	6,300
France	67,413,000	2,938.00	50,659	1.84	709	244	208,000
Germany	83,190,556	4,319.00	54,113	1.36	591	294	184,000
Greece	10,718,565	211.64	4,844	2.24	431	46	105,000
Hungary	9,771,827	180.50	2,080	1.21	178	104	20,000
Iceland	350,734	24.24	—	—	—	—	—
Italy	60,317,116	2,106.00	24,482	1.22	385	137	179,000
Latvia	1,881,232	36.77	724	2.01	325	113	6,400
Lithuania	2,731,464	56.23	1,084	2.13	336	53	21,000
Luxembourg	628,381	72.99	391	0.55	552	434	900
Montenegro	609,859	5.69	92	1.65	126	58	1,600
Netherlands	17,674,000	1,012.99	12,419	1.35	655	303	41,000
North Macedonia	2,125,971	13.33	108	1.09	51	15	7,200
Norway	5,467,439	422.06	7,179	1.70	1,308	359	20,000
Poland	38,282,325	606.73	11,971	2.01	296	97	123,000
Portugal	10,344,802	251.70	3,358	1.41	299	112	30,000
Romania	21,302,893	261.87	5,043	2.04	225	73	69,000
Slovakia	5,440,602	111.87	1,905	1.74	322	147	13,000
Slovenia	2,102,678	56.85	581	1.04	253	85	6,800
Spain	47,450,795	1,450.00	13,156	0.92	264	109	121,000
Turkey	83,614,362	794.53	13,919	1.89	225	32	435,000
United Kingdom	67,081,000	3,108.00	60,376	2.13	979	419	144,000
United States	332,639,102	22,320.00	730,149	3.42	2,072	546	1,338,000
NATO	953,365,622	43,711.57	1,036,186	2.51	1,045	317	3,268,000

Notes[edit]

1. ^ a b Population data is based on a July 2021 estimate by the Central Intelligence Agency in The World Factbook.[10]
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Founding member of NATO.
3. ^ Officially referred to by the name Czechia. (See Czech Republic#Name.)
4. ^ including Faroe Islands and Greenland.
5. ^ Germany initially joined NATO as West Germany. The former country of East Germany became part of NATO after German reunification.
6. ^ North Macedonia's population estimate was missing from Central Intelligence Agency's Country Comparison list in The World Factbook but available in the country's entry.[15]
7. ^ Officially referred to by the name Türkiye. (See Turkey#Name.)
8. ^ The paramilitary forces of Italy consist of the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza.
9. ^ a b Country order is the same as the preceding chart (military personnel per 1,000 capita) to maintain the same country colours between charts.
10. ^ 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.
11. ^ Gross domestic product (nominal) data (in billions of US dollars) is based on an October 2019 issue of the World Economic Outlook, which is published by the International Monetary Fund.[28]
12. ^ a b Defence expenditure and personnel data are based on a June 2019 press release from NATO.[29]

References[edit]

Citations

1. ^ "The North Atlantic Treaty". North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 4 April 1949. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
2. ^ a b "Enlargement and Article 10". NATO. 10 June 2022. Retrieved 1 July 2022. Currently, five partner countries have declared their aspirations to NATO membership: Bosnia and Herzegovina, Finland, Georgia, Sweden and Ukraine.
3. ^ a b NATO. "Member countries". NATO. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
4. ^ a b Mosquera, Andrés B. Muñoz (2019). "The North Atlantic Treaty: Article 9 and NATO's Institutionalization". Volume 34. Emory International Law Review. Really, the Agreement on the Status of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation, National Representatives and International Staff signed in Ottawa
5. ^ "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.
6. ^ a b NATO. "Enlargement and Article 10". NATO. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
7. ^ NATO. "Relations with Finland". NATO. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
8. ^ NATO. "Relations with Sweden". NATO. Retrieved 29 June 2022.
9. ^ "Member countries". NATO. 4 October 2022. Archived from the original on 9 October 2022. Retrieved 6 November 2022.
10. ^ "Country Comparisons — Population". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
11. ^ "Field Listing :: Area". Central Intelligence Agency. Archived from the original on 31 January 2014. 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. ^ "AREA". Statistics Denmark. Archived from the original on 14 April 2019. Retrieved 29 January 2022.
15. ^ "North Macedonia — People and Society". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 1 January 2022.
16. ^ "Denmark and NATO - 1949".
17. ^ "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.
18. ^ 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.
19. ^ Stratton, Allegra (17 June 2008). "Sarkozy military plan unveiled". The Guardian. UK. Archived from the original on 7 March 2016. Retrieved 17 December 2016.
20. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s t u v w x y z aa ab ac The International Institute for Strategic Studies (February 2022). The Military Balance 2022. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-032-27900-8. ISSN 0459-7222.
21. ^ Where Does The Relationship Between NATO And The U.S. Go From Here?, Huffington Post
22. ^ NATO allies boost defense spending in the wake of Trump criticism, The Washington Post
23. ^ Former US ambassador to Nato in withering criticism of Donald Trump, The Independent
24. ^ Shaken by Trump's Criticism of NATO, Europe Mulls Building Own Military Force, Voice Of America
25. ^ "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database". SIPRI The independent resource on global security. STOCKHOLM INTERNATIONAL PEACE RESEARCH INSTITUTE.
26. ^ Support for NATO is widespread among member nations, Pew Research
27. ^ U.S. would defend NATO despite Trump's criticism, Europeans believe: study, Reuters
28. ^ "GDP, current prices". International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 29 March 2020.
29. ^ "Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries (2012-2019)" (PDF). NATO. 25 June 2019. Retrieved 30 March 2020.

Bibliography

• International Institute for Strategic Studies (14 February 2018). The Military Balance 2018. London: Routledge. ISBN 9781857439557.

Which countries are in NATO 2022?

Who are the 30 NATO members?

What countries are not in NATO 2022?

Who are the 7 members of NATO?