A Cluster Analysis of Defence Expenditures of NATO Countries

Abstract

Any long-term planning increasingly requires that defense spending should not only be viewed in relation to its share in GDP, as the situation of a given country can be assessed by taking into account several factors. In this study, an analysis, based on the 2019 estimates and published annually by NATO, is presented. This article provides an insight into which countries are the “closest” to each other, on the basis of factors by examining the structural distribution of defense expenditures. The method used: cluster analysis.