Canada Spends 2% of GDP on Defense For First Time in Decades

Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney and Minister of National Defence David McGuinty meet with Canadian troops in Toronto on June 9.Photographer: Cole Burston/Getty Images

Canada hiked its military spending enough in 2025 to reach the target set by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, fulfilling a promise made by Prime Minister Mark Carney shortly after winning an election last April.

The new money means Canada now has “the highest level of defense spending relative to the size of our economy since the fall of the Berlin Wall,” Carney said Thursday.