Staggering: Hungary leads NATO in this segment

A recently published report by the secretary general of NATO revealed that Hungary, one of the smallest members, leads NATO concerning the amount of money it spends on military technology.

According to infostart.hu, Hungary spent almost HUF 1,000 billion (EUR 2.67 billion) on its armed forces. The aim is to spend at least 2 percent of the GDP on the military. That figure was 1.44 percent in 2022. Flórián Hecker, a journalist of Világgazdaság, told InfóRádió that the “fallback” is because of the Hungarian GDP growth. The government expected 1.7-1.8 percent in 2022, but it was not realised because of the much higher GDP.

The GDP increase reached 4.6 percent in Hungary last year, so the country is middle-ranked concerning military spending compared to the gross domestic product. However, if they look at how much Hungary spent on military techniques, e.g. ammunition and weapons, that rate is 48 percent. The figure is the highest in NATO. Greece is the second with 45 percent.

Jens Stoltenberg referred to a survey in the 200-page-long report stating that only 10 percent of the Hungarians are against military spending. They concluded that the majority of the Hungarians are pro-NATO. More than 70 percent would say yes to a referendum to join NATO now, the 10th highest in the alliance.