How Germany spends so much less than us

GERMANY spent less on defence this year than Britain, despite having the largest economy in Europe. It committed 1.24 per cent of its GDP on defence last year – equivalent to £32.5billion.

The gap is partly explained by the Second World War settlement which saw West Germany’s constitution place strict limits on its defence forces and curbs on foreign deployments of its troops which are still in place.

Chancellor Angela Merkel has repeatedly come under pressure from Donald Trump for failing to meet the Nato commitment to spend 2 per cent of GDP, a measure of the size of the economy, on defence.

In 2016-2017 Britain’s defence spending was around £35.3billion, the equivalent of 2.14 per cent of GDP.

Mrs Merkel has said she backs plans for Germany’s defence budget to eventually reach 2 per cent of GDP.

At a recent meeting with Nato Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg, Mr Trump said Germany ‘has not contributed what it should be contributing, and it’s a very big beneficiary’.