Original link: The US thinks Europe isn’t pulling its weight on Nato – but how much are countries really spending on defence? / Independent.
(skip the red bar chart because that is just showing how much the countries are paying to NATO HQ and go the blue bar chart that shows defense expenditure as percent of GDP)
It shows that the European NATO countries 10 years ago was not spending the 2% that they had promised, but that now most of the countries (especially Eastern European and Noric countries that are close to Russia) are over 2%.
The target is now being raised to 3%, but a few countries are already there and more will get up there in a few years.
I don't think the real problem is Europe not spending on military. I think the problem is that Europe after a couple of decades of low spending has 1) a lot of catchup to do 2) problems spending the new money effectively.