trump has on numerous occasions told NATO member countries to pay the dues they owe the organization. A total of 23 out of 28 NATO member countries owe the body. NATO countries set a minimum target of spending 2% of their economic output of defense. Most countries prefer to protect the defense of their territories and thus end up remitting less to the organization. Last year, only five countries spent 2% or more of GDP on their militaries, they include, the United States which spent 3.61%, Greece 2.38%, United Kindom 2.21%, Estonia 2.16% and Poland 2%.

The bottom 5 lowest spenders are Canada at 0.99%, Slovenia 0.94%, Spain 0.91%, Belgium 0.85% and Luxemburg 0.44%. The 2016 total expenditure of NATO was $892.160 million. The funds are mostly used in its command center in Brussels as well as in training and research.

A brief history of the North Atlantic Alliance

NATO is a military alliance between the two North American countries U.S and Canada and 26 other European countries. The NATO treaty was signed on April 4th, 1949. Member countries agreed to defend one another if attacked by an external Nation. Its primary goals were to protect Western Europe from Soviet assault. The headquarters of the organization are in Brussels, Belgium. Albania and Croatia are the latest entrants into the group, they both joined in April 2009.

NATO total military spending is 70% of global military expenditures. NATO has a total military personnel of 7,330,000. The organization has participated in several operations such as Iraqi invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Bosnian war in 1992, Kosovo conflict in 1999, Afganistan war after the September 11th attacks, Iraq training missions, piracy in the Gulf of Aden and interventions in Libya during the Middle East uprising.

Debt to GDP ratios of NATO's lowest spenders

The lowest NATO spenders may have massive budget deficits and thus are unable to borrow and remit more to the organization. Some may have experienced reduced economic growth and revenue collections. Canada's government Debt To Gdp has risen from 66.5% in 2007 to 91.5% in 2015. Slovenia debt to GDP has increased from 22.8% in 2007 to 79.7% in 2016.

Spain's government debt to GDP rose from 35.5% in 2007 to 99.4% in 2016. Belgium's debt to GDP has increased from 87% in 2007 to 105.9% in 2016. Luxembourg's debt to GDP growth is low but has increased from 7.8% in 2007 to 20% in 2016. It is clear that an increase in military spending which constitutes a big portion of most countries government spending might result in default and low economic confidence.