Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen: Finland will exceed NATO’s 1.5% target for defence- and security-related spending in 2026

The Ministerial Committee on Economic Policy of the Finnish Government has outlined that the expenditure Finland will be reporting under NATO’s 1.5 per cent target for defence- and security-related spending will include statutory readiness and preparedness duties or capabilities critical to homeland defence that are sustained and developed by other branches of government than the Ministry of Defence. These costs are estimated to reach 2.4 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2026, clearly exceeding the NATO target.

“Total defence is an essential element of Finland’s defence. Traditionally, Finland has always sought to ensure the resilience of our civil society, and now we have stepped up our efforts. The fact that we are able to exceed the NATO target already this year, the first year of reporting, shows that we take total defence seriously,” Minister of Defence Antti Häkkänen said.

At the 2025 NATO Summit in The Hague, Allies made a commitment to investing five per cent of GDP annually on defence. They will allocate at least 3.5 per cent of GDP annually on core defence requirements and up to 1.5 per cent of GDP annually on defence- and security-related spending. Each Ally must reach the new target by 2035.

Based on the agreed definition of NATO defence expenditure, for Finland the 3.5 per cent target includes the defence budget (i.e. the expenditure of the Ministry of Defence’s branch of government), parts of the Finnish Border Guard’s expenditure, the Ministry for Foreign Affairs’ share of the expenditure on military crisis management operations, and retirement pension paymens by the defence administration.

“The 1.5 per cent target for defence- and security-related spending includes the costs of such activities as enabling the execution of operations plans, strengthening the defence industrial base, promoting innovation in the defence sector, safeguarding civil preparedness and resilience, and supporting Ukraine. All these we have been promoting with determination,” Häkkänen said.

The reporting is based on a cross-government preparation led by the Ministry of Defence. The Ministry of Defence is responsible for coordinating Finland’s total defence.

Although Finland will be exceeding NATO’s target of 1.5 per cent, it will have no impact on our reaching the 3.5 per cent target for spending on core defence requirements.

Inquiries: Petri Vähäkangas, Senior Specialist, tel. +358 295 140 218 and Markku Viitasaari, Director, Ministry of Defence, tel. +358 295 140 330. Requests for interviews with Minister Häkkänen: Dani Niskanen, Special Adviser, tel. +358 415 444 967.