Britain has fallen down the official rankings of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation despite escalating tensions worldwide. The news comes as China launched extensive military drills in the Strait of Taiwan, and the war in Ukraine continues with peace talks ongoing.
Since the invasion of Ukraine, the United Kingdom has fallen to 12th place in terms of its share of gross domestic product (GDP) spent on defence. At the start of the war, the country was in 3rd position. Whilst the UK spends 2.4% of its GDP on defence, an increase of 0.1% in two years, other European nations have drastically expanded their spending. Poland has more than doubled its share, from 2.2% to 4.%, with Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia seeing rates of 4%, 3.73% and 3.38% respectively. The United Kingdom’s diminished position comes despite the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer, vowing to spend 2.5% of the nation’s GDP on defence by 2028.
Just days ago, China launched a series of military drills, including live fire exercises around the Island of Taiwan, which saw army, navy, air and rocket forces deployed in the Taiwan Strait. It was the second round of major drills in the region in 2025, and came shortly after the United States oversaw a massive arms sale to the country.
Responding to the sale, the Chinese Foreign Ministry said: “No matter how the US attempts to turn Taiwan into a so-called porcupine, it will not be able to stop China’s eventual and complete reunification.”
Fears of escalating world tensions only increased over the course of 2025, with peace talks in Ukraine breaking down and a war between Iran and Israel, which ended when US bombers attacked an Iranian nuclear site.
Matthew Savill, a member of the Royal United Services Institute (RUSI), speaking to the Daily Telegraph, warned that the United Kingdom’s failure to match the defence spending of other nations risked undermining the country’s position as a leader on the world stage.
He said “We have gone from being one of the few who are meeting [Nato’s] 2pc target to being in the middle of the pack.”
A Government spokesman said: “This Government has increased defence spending as a proportion of GDP and will go further over the coming years.
“Last year, the Prime Minister made a historic commitment to spend 5pc of GDP on national security from 2035. This is a generational increase in defence and security spending, underlining the UK’s commitment to national security and honouring our commitment to be a leader in Nato.
“The UK is currently the third-highest defence spender of 32 Nato nations and we have announced the largest sustained increase in defence spending since the end of the Cold War – hitting 2.6pc of GDP by 2027 – and an extra £5bn for defence last year alone.”