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NATO (the North Atlantic Treaty Organization) is an international alliance that consists of 30 member states from North America and Europe. It was established at the signing of the North Atlantic Treaty on 4 April 1949. Article Five 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.

Of the 29 member countries, two are located in North America (Canada and the United States), 26 are in Europe, and one is in Europe and Asia (Turkey). All members have militaries, except for Iceland which does not have a typical army (but does, however, 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 nation states, and from 18 February 1952 to 6 May 1955, it added three more member nations, and a fourth on 30 May 1982. After the end of the Cold War, NATO added 13 more member nations (10 former Warsaw Pact members and three former Yugoslav republics) from 12 March 1999 to 5 June 2017.

Founding and changes in membership

NATO has added new members seven times since its founding in 1949, and since 2017 NATO has had 29 members. Twelve countries took part in the founding of NATO: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom, and the United States. In 1952, Greece and Turkey became members of the Alliance, joined later by West Germany (in 1955) and Spain (in 1982). In 1990, with the reunification of Germany, NATO grew to include the former country of East Germany. Between 1994 and 1997, wider forums for regional cooperation between NATO and its neighbors were set up, including the Partnership for Peace, the Mediterranean Dialogue initiative and the Euro-Atlantic Partnership Council. In 1997, three former Warsaw Pact countries, Hungary, the Czech Republic, and Poland, were invited to join NATO. After this fourth enlargement in 1999, the Vilnius group of the Baltics and seven East European countries formed in May 2000 to cooperate and lobby for further NATO membership. Seven of these countries joined in the fifth enlargement in 2004. The Adriatic States Albania and Croatia joined in the sixth enlargement in 2009, Montenegro in 2017. The seventh enlargement was N. Macedonia in March 2020;

United States President Donald Trump expressed interest in withdrawing from the organization during his 2016 presidential campaign, but he later stated that the United States would protect allies in the event that Article V is invoked.

Member states

Flag	Map	English common and formal names	Domestic common and formal names	Capital	Date of accession	Population	Area	Notes
		Albania Republic of Albania	Template:Lang-sq	Tirana Template:Lang-sq	2009-04-01	2,887,000	28,748 km (11,100 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1968.
		Belgium* Kingdom of Belgium	Template:Lang-nl Template:Lang-fr Template:Lang-de	Brussels Template:Lang-nl Template:Lang-fr Template:Lang-de	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	11,502,204	30,528 km (11,787 sq mi)
		Bulgaria* Republic of Bulgaria	Template:Lang-bg (Bǎlgarija — Republika Bǎlgarija)	Sofia Template:Lang-bg (Sofia)	2004-03-29	7,050,034	110,879 km (42,811 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991.
		Canada	Template:Lang-en Template:Lang-fr	Ottawa	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	37,242,571	9,984,670 km (3,855,103 sq mi)
		Croatia* Republic of Croatia	Template:Lang-hr	Zagreb Template:Lang-hr	2009-04-01	4,105,493	56,594 km (21,851 sq mi)	Previously part of Yugoslavia 1945–1991 (Non-aligned).
		Czechia*	Template:Lang-cs	Prague Template:Lang-cs	1999-03-12	10,625,449	78,867 km (30,451 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991 as part of Czechoslovakia.
		Denmark* Kingdom of Denmark	Template:Lang-da	Copenhagen Template:Lang-da	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	5,806,015	2,210,000 km (853,286 sq mi)	Denmark's NATO membership includes the Faroe Islands and Greenland.
		Estonia* Republic of Estonia	Template:Lang-et	Tallinn Template:Lang-et	2004-03-29	1,315,000	45,228 km (17,463 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991 as part of the Soviet Union.
		France* French Republic	Template:Lang-fr	Paris Template:Lang-fr	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	67,348,000	643,427 km (248,429 sq mi)	Membership extended as the Fourth French Republic (including French Algeria until 1962). France withdrew from the integrated military command in 1966 to pursue an independent defense system but returned to full participation in 2009.
		Germany* Federal Republic of Germany	Template:Lang-de	Berlin Template:Lang-de	1955-05-8	82,800,000	357,022 km (137,847 sq mi)	Commonly known as West Germany when it joined; it later reunited with Saarland in 1957 and with the Berlin territories and East Germany on 3 October 1990. East Germany was a member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1956–1990.
		Greece* Hellenic Republic	Template:Lang-el (Ellás — Ellinikí Dimokratía)	Athens Template:Lang-el (Athína)	1952-02-18	10,816,286	131,957 km (50,949 sq mi)	Membership extended as the Kingdom of Greece. Greece withdrew its forces from NATO's military command structure from 1974 to 1980 as a result of Greco-Turkish tensions following the 1974 Turkish invasion of Cyprus.
		Hungary*	Template:Lang-hu	Budapest Template:Lang-hu	1999-03-12	9,771,000	93,028 km (35,918 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991.
		Iceland Republic of Iceland	Template:Lang-is	Reykjavík Template:Lang-is	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	350,710	103,000 km (39,769 sq mi)	Iceland, the sole member that does not have its own standing army, joined on the condition that it would not be expected to establish one. However, its strategic geographic position in the Atlantic made it an invaluable member. It has a Coast Guard and has contributed a voluntary peacekeeping force, trained in Norway for NATO.
		Italy* Italian Republic	Template:Lang-it	Rome Template:Lang-it	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	60,494,118	301,340 km (116,348 sq mi)
		Latvia* Republic of Latvia	Template:Lang-lv	Riga Template:Lang-lv	2004-03-29	1,934,379	64,589 km (24,938 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991 as part of the Soviet Union.
		Lithuania* Republic of Lithuania	Template:Lang-lt	Vilnius Template:Lang-lt	2004-03-29	2,797,000	65,300 km (25,212 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991 as part of the Soviet Union.
		Luxembourg* Grand Duchy of Luxembourg	Template:Lang-lb Template:Lang-fr Template:Lang-de	Luxembourg Template:Lang-lb Template:Lang-fr Template:Lang-de	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	602,000	2,586 km (998 sq mi)
		Montenegro	Montenegrin: Црна Гора, Crna Gora	Podgorica Montenegrin: Подгорица, Podgorica	2017-06-05	642,550	13,812 km (5,333 sq mi)	Previously part of Yugoslavia 1945–1991 (Non-aligned).
		Netherlands* Kingdom of the Netherlands	Template:Lang-nl Template:Lang-fy Template:Lang-pap	Amsterdam (capital) The Hague (seat of government) Template:Lang-nl Template:Lang-fy Template:Lang-pap Template:Lang-nl Template:Lang-fy Template:Lang-pap	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	17,272,990	41,543 km (16,040 sq mi)
		North Macedonia	Macedonian: Северна Македонија, Severna Makedonija	Skopje Macedonian: Скопје, Skopje	2020-03-27	2,077,132	25,713 km (9,928 sq mi)	Previously part of Yugoslavia 1945–1991 (Non-aligned).
		Norway Kingdom of Norway	Template:Lang-nb Template:Lang-nn Template:Lang-se	Oslo Template:Lang-no	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	5,323,933	323,802 km (125,021 sq mi)
		Poland* Republic of Poland	Template:Lang-pl	Warsaw Template:Lang-pl	1999-03-12	38,433,600	312,685 km (120,728 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991.
		Portugal* Portuguese Republic	Template:Lang-pt	Lisbon Template:Lang-pt	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	10,291,196	92,090 km (35,556 sq mi)
		Romania*	Template:Lang-ro	Bucharest Template:Lang-ro	2004-03-29	19,622,000	238,391 km (92,043 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991.
		Slovakia* Slovak Republic	Template:Lang-sk	Bratislava Template:Lang-sk	2004-03-29	5,445,087	49,035 km (18,933 sq mi)	Member of the rival Warsaw Pact 1955–1991 as part of Czechoslovakia.
		Slovenia* Republic of Slovenia	Template:Lang-sl	Ljubljana Template:Lang-sl	2004-03-29	2,070,050	20,273 km (7,827 sq mi)	Previously part of Yugoslavia 1945–1991 (Non-aligned).
		Spain* Kingdom of Spain	Template:Lang-es	Madrid Template:Lang-es	1982-05-30	47,720,291	505,370 km (195,124 sq mi)
		Turkey Republic of Turkey	Template:Lang-tr	Ankara Template:Lang-tr	1952-02-18	80,810,525	783,562 km (302,535 sq mi)
		United Kingdom United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland	Template:Lang-en Template:Lang-cy	London	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	66,040,229	243,610 km (94,058 sq mi)
		United States United States of America	Template:Lang-en	Washington, D.C.	1949-08-24 (Founding member)	327,167,434	9,833,520 km (3,796,743 sq mi)

Military personnel

The following list is sourced from the 2018 edition of "The Military Balance" published annually by the International Institute for Strategic Studies.

	Country	Active military	Reserve military	Paramilitary	Total	Per 1000 capita (total)	Per 1000 capita (active)
Albania	8,000	0	500	8,500	2.8	2.6
Belgium	28,800	5,000	0	33,800	2.9	2.5
Bulgaria	31,300	3,000	0	34,300	4.8	4.4
Canada	63,000	30,000	4,500	97,500	2.7	1.8
Croatia	15,650	0	3,000	18,650	4.3	3.6
Czech Republic	23,200	2,359	0	25,559	2.4	2.2
Denmark	16,100	45,700	0	61,800	11	2.9
Estonia	6,600	12,000	15,800	34,400	27.5	5.3
France	202,700	72,300	103,400	378,400	5.6	3
Germany	178,600	27,900	500	207,000	2.6	2.2
Greece	141,350	220,500	4,000	365,850	34	13.1
Hungary	27,800	44,000	12,000	83,800	8.5	2.8
Iceland	200	200	250	650	1.9	0.6
Italy	174,500	18,300	182,350	375,150	6	2.8
Latvia	5,310	7,850	0	13,160	6.8	2.7
Lithuania	18,350	6,700	11,300	36,350	12.9	6.5
Luxembourg	900	0	600	1,500	2.5	1.5
Montenegro	1,950	0	10,100	12,050	18.8	3
Netherlands	35,410	4,660	5,900	45,970	2.7	2.1
Norway	23,950	38,590	0	62,540	11.8	4.5
Poland	105,000	0	73,400	178,400	4.6	2.7
Portugal	30,500	211,950	44,000	286,450	26.4	2.8
Romania	69,300	50,000	79,900	199,200	9.3	3.2
Slovakia	15,850	0	0	15,850	2.9	2.9
Slovenia	7,250	1,760	5,950	14,960	7.6	3.7
Spain	121,200	15,450	76,750	213,400	4.4	2.5
Turkey	355,200	378,700	156,800	890,700	11	4.4
United Kingdom	146,650	44,250	0	190,900	2.9	2.3
United States	1,348,400	857,950	0	2,206,350	6.8	4.2

1. The paramilitary forces of Italy consists of the Carabinieri and the Guardia di Finanza.

Military expenditures

The United States has a larger defense expenditure than all other members combined. Criticism of the organization by current US President Donald Trump caused various reactions from American and European political figures, ranging from ridicule to panic. 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. Only in the US and Canada did more than 50% of the people answer that they should.

Table

Country	Population (2016 est.)	GDP (nominal) (2018, US$ millions)	Military expenditures (2019, US$ millions)	Military expenditures (2019, % of GDP)	Defence expenditures, (2018, US$ per capita)	Total military (2017)
Albania	3,038,594	15,202	198	1.26	59	6,800
Belgium	11,409,077	533,153	4,921	0.93	433	28,000
Bulgaria	7,144,653	64,963	1,079	1.61	124	25,000
Canada	35,362,905	1,711,387	21,885	1.27	641	73,000
Croatia	4,313,707	60,688	1,072	1.75	269	15,000
Czech Republic	10,644,842	242,052	2,969	1.19	260	24,000
Denmark	5,593,785	350,874	4,760	1.35	758	17,000
Estonia	1,258,545	30,312	669	2.13	412	6,200
France	66,836,154	2,775,252	50,659	1.84	788	209,000
Germany	80,722,792	4,000,386	54,113	1.36	586	180,000
Greece	10,773,253	219,097	4,844	2.24	526	106,000
Hungary	9,874,784	155,703	2,080	1.21	190	19,000
Iceland	335,878	25,882	4.5		14.2	0
Italy	62,007,540	2,072,201	24,482	1.22	406	181,000
Latvia	1,965,686	34,881	724	2.01	333	5,700
Lithuania	2,854,235	53,323	1,084	1.98	353	13,000
Luxembourg	582,291	68,770	391	0.55	579	800
Montenegro	623,000	5,402	92	1.65	128	1700
Netherlands	17,016,967	912,899	12,419	1.35	745	41,000
Norway	5,265,158	434,937	7,179	1.70	2,489	20,000
Poland	38,523,261	586,015	11,971	2.01	325	111,000
Portugal	10,833,816	238,510	3,358	1.41	322	26,000
Romania	21,599,736	239,851	5,043	2.04	220	60,000
Slovakia	5,445,802	106,585	1,905	1.74	251	12,000
Slovenia	1,978,029	54,242	581	1.04	272	6,800
Spain	48,563,476	1,425,865	13,156	0.92	310	121,000
Turkey	80,274,604	766,428	13,919	1.89	253	387,000
United Kingdom	64,430,428	2,828,644	60,376	2.13	924	135,510
United States	327,465,000	20,494,050	730,149	3.42	1,846	1,320,000
NATO	932,645,526	36,211,501	1,036,077	2.51	934	3,163,000

Population data from CIA World Factbook
GDP data from IMF
Expenditure data (except Iceland) from SIPRI Military Expenditure Database, Icelandic data (2013) from Statistics Iceland
Military personnel data from NATO
Iceland has no armed forces.
2015 data.

Notes

1. ^ Area and population numbers include integral areas located outside of Europe. The area and population of states with separatist regions includes that of the separatist regions.
2. ^ The island of Cyprus is located on the Cyprian arc on the edge of the Anatolian Plate and is physiographically associated with Asia, but it is part of European organisations such as the EU.
3. ^ Turkey has territory in both Europe (dark green) and Asia (light green).
4. ^ Denmark and the Netherlands are constituent countries of the Kingdom of Denmark and the Kingdom of the Netherlands respectively. Both are members of the EU; however, the other constituent countries of their kingdoms are not. In international organisations, the terms Denmark and the Netherlands are often used as short names for their respective kingdoms as a whole.
5. The Netherlands is also known as "Holland", but this name properly refers only to a region of the country. See Netherlands (terminology).
6. ^ The United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Northern Ireland) consists of the constituent countries of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales. The UK is responsible for the foreign relations and ultimate good governance of the Crown dependencies of Guernsey, the Isle of Man and Jersey, which are otherwise separate. England, Scotland and Wales make up the island of Great Britain (or simply Britain), which is sometimes used synonymously with the United Kingdom.
7. ^ EU candidate country.
8. A simpler official short name has been encouraged by the Czech government. By 2017, this variant remains uncommon. Nevertheless, this term has been adopted by several companies and organisations, including Google Maps, instead of the term "Czech Republic". See Name of the Czech Republic.

References

Citations

1. "The North Atlantic Treaty". North Atlantic Treaty Organization. 4 April 1949. Retrieved 16 June 2008.
2. "Trump threatens to quit NATO: White House official - France 24". France 24. 18 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
3. Landler, Michael D. Shear, Mark; Kanter, James (25 May 2017). "In NATO Speech, Trump Is Vague About Mutual Defense Pledge". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 31 May 2017.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
4. Lauter, David (26 May 2017). "A glowing orb and a not-so-glowing review of the GOP healthcare bill: Trump's week was filled with events he didn't control". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
5. "Member States". Europa. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
6. ^ "Field Listing :: Names". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 30 September 2016.
7. ^ "UNGEGN List of Country Names" (PDF). United Nations Statistics Division. 2007. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
8. ^ "List of countries, territories and currencies". Europa. 9 August 2011. Retrieved 10 August 2011.
9. "Field Listing :: Capital". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
10. "UNGEGN World Geographical Names". United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names. 13 September 2010. Retrieved 24 February 2011.
11. "North Atlantic Treaty". United States Department of State. 5 June 2017. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
12. "Country Comparison :: Population". Central Intelligence Agency. July 2014. Retrieved 17 October 2014.
13. "Field Listing :: Area". Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 3 March 2011.
14. "Netherlands". Cia.gov. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
15. "Turkey's population hits 79.81 million people, increasing over one million". Hürriyet Daily News. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
16. IISS 2018, pp. 82
17. IISS 2018, pp. 85
18. IISS 2018, pp. 88
19. IISS 2018, pp. 43
20. IISS 2018, pp. 90
21. IISS 2018, pp. 94
22. IISS 2018, pp. 96
23. IISS 2018, pp. 98
24. IISS 2018, pp. 102
25. IISS 2018, pp. 107-108
26. IISS 2018, pp. 111
27. IISS 2018, pp. 114
28. IISS 2018, p. 116
29. IISS 2018, pp. 118
30. IISS 2018, pp. 122
31. IISS 2018, pp. 124
32. IISS 2018, p. 125-126
33. IISS 2018, pp. 128
34. IISS 2018, pp. 130
35. IISS 2018, pp. 132-133
36. IISS 2018, pp. 135
37. IISS 2018, pp. 138
38. IISS 2018, pp. 140
39. IISS 2018, pp. 145
40. IISS 2018, pp. 147
41. IISS 2018, pp. 148
42. IISS 2018, pp. 156-157
43. IISS 2018, pp. 160-161
44. IISS 2018, pp. 46
45. Where Does The Relationship Between NATO And The U.S. Go From Here?, Huffington Post
46. NATO allies boost defense spending in the wake of Trump criticism, The Washington Post
47. Former US ambassador to Nato in withering criticism of Donald Trump, The Independent
48. Shaken by Trump’s Criticism of NATO, Europe Mulls Building Own Military Force, Voice Of America
49. Support for NATO is widespread among member nations, Pew Research
50. U.S. would defend NATO despite Trump's criticism, Europeans believe: study, Reuters
51. ^ The Secretary General's Annual Report 2019. NATO. Published in 2018. See pages 108 - 112.
52. https://www.nato.int/nato_static_fl2014/assets/pdf/pdf_publications/20190315_sgar2018-en.pdf#page=122
53. "World Economic Outlook Database April 2016". International Monetary Fund. International Monetary Fund. April 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
54. "SIPRI Military Expenditure Database 2015" (XLS). Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. Stockholm International Peace Research Institute. 2016. Retrieved 23 October 2016.
55. "Central government total expenditure by function 1998-2013". Statistics Iceland. Statistics Iceland. 23 September 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
56. "Financial and Economic Data Relating to NATO Defence" (PDF). NATO. NATO. 24 February 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2015.

Bibliography

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

• NATO
• Countries by international organization
• Member states of NATO