Poland – As a consequence of the war raging in neighbouring Ukraine for almost a year now and of sharing borders with both Russia and its Belarusian ally, Poland is set to significantly increase its defence budget this year.
According to a statement issued by the chancellery of Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki on 30 January, “the good state of public finances […] enables an unprecedented modernisation of our army. Stable and growing revenues for the state budget allow for more investment in the security of our homeland.
The 2023 budget adopted by the Sejm provides for defence spending of PLN 97.4 billion, or nearly 4 percent of GDP.
In 2015, it was only PLN 37 billion, or 2.2% of GDP.
This is an increase of over 160%.
[…] Since 2015, the number of soldiers in the Polish armed forces has grown from 95,000 to about 164,000 at present. It is proof that today, serving in the Polish military is an attractive job, and for many also a source of pride. ”
Poland will therefore be the NATO member country spending proportionally the most on its national defence,
ahead of Greece (3.76% of GDP in 2022) and even the United States (3.47%). By way of comparison, France and Germany spent 1.9% and 1.3% of their GDP, respectively, on defence in 2021, when that figure was 4.1% for Russia.
