Analysing the annual trend in expenditure since 2015, it is clear that Portugal had never before increased its investment in this area so significantly in a single year.
Between 2024 and 2025, Portugal recorded the largest annual increase in defence spending of the last decade, raising investment to €6.1 billion and meeting NATO’s 2% of GDP target for the first time.
According to the annual report published by NATO, whose summit is taking place on Tuesday and Wednesday in Ankara, the capital of Turkey, Portugal’s defence spending last year stood at around €6 billion, compared with €4.4 billion in 2024, representing an increase of around €1.6 billion in a single year.
Analysing the annual trend in expenditure since 2015, as set out in the same report, it is clear that Portugal had never before increased its investment in this area so significantly in a single year.
The second-largest ‘jump’ occurred between 2023 and 2024, with expenditure rising by €919 million.
Although it remains among the NATO countries that invest the least in defence (the Alliance average is 2.77% of GDP), in 2025, Portugal was the 12th ally to have increased its expenditure the most compared with the previous year.
