On 31 March 2022, NATO Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg released his Annual Report for 2021.
“We have entered a new era in global security, where authoritarian powers, like Russia and China, are openly contesting core principles for our security, and seeking to re-write the entire international order on which our peace and prosperity depend. Moscow is using force to pursue its objectives, as we are seeing in Ukraine. At the same time, other challenges to our security have not gone away, including terrorism, nuclear proliferation, cyber attacks, disruptive technologies and climate change.
“Faced with this new reality, Europe and North America must continue to stand united and work closely together in a strong NATO. This is exactly what we are doing. At our Brussels Summit in June 2021, we agreed an ambitious and forward-looking NATO 2030 agenda. In this report, you will read about the concrete actions NATO has taken to adapt our Alliance politically and militarily to an ever-changing world.”
The Secretary General’s Annual Report covers NATO’s work and achievements throughout the year, including the Brussels Summit, the NATO 2030 decisions to make the Alliance stronger for the future and NATO cooperation with Ukraine.
In 2021, NATO commissioned surveys across all 30 Allies to understand their citizens’ perceptions of NATO and to monitor trends in comparison to 2020. These show that overall support for the NATO Alliance, the transatlantic bond and collective defence remain strong.
The Report also includes the details of estimated 2021 national defence expenditures for all 30 NATO Allies. 2021 saw the seventh consecutive year of increases in defence spending across European Allies and Canada. From 2020 to 2021, defence spending increased by +3.1% in real terms. In total, over the last seven years, this increase added USD 270 billion for defence.
Download the full report HERE.
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