Estonian Prime Minister Kristen Michal (Reform party) has claimed Estonia is spending almost 7 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) on defense under NATO's new spending goal.
Speaking at this week's NATO Summit in Ankara, Turkey, Michal called on allies to increase their defense expenditure during his opening remarks, saying Estonia is investing "almost 7 percent this year" in defense.
Under the goal set at last year's NATO summit, allies agreed to allocate 5 percent of GDP to defense in the coming years. This target is split into two parts:
1) 3.5 percent for core military expenditures, such as personnel, operations, equipment, and maintenance.
2) 1.5 percent for security-related spending, such as cyberdefense, supply chain resilience, critical infrastructure, logistics, and defense innovation.
