NATO vs Russia by the Numbers
Eight of NATO's largest members spent $1.39 trillion on defence in 2025, seven times Russia's $190 billion. How the balance looks with and without the US.
How does Russia’s military compare with NATO’s? The alliance has 32 members, but most of its military weight sits with a handful of them. Our dataset covers eight of the largest: the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Turkey, Poland, Italy and Spain. Here is how those eight compare with Russia.
The headline numbers
| NATO 8 | NATO 8 without the US | Russia | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Military spending, 2025 | $1,390B | $436B | $190B |
| Active personnel | 2.94M | 1.61M | 1.32M |
| Total aircraft | 17,912 | 4,880 | 4,237 |
| Fighters | 2,727 | 936 | 861 |
| Tanks | 9,260 | 4,594 | 5,630 |
| Naval vessels | 1,558 | 1,093 | 747 |
| Submarines | 116 | 50 | 66 |
| Nuclear warheads | 4,215 | 515 | 4,400 |
Spending from SIPRI; equipment and personnel from Global Firepower 2026; warheads from SIPRI Yearbook 2026. Other NATO members, including Canada, the Netherlands, Norway, the Nordic and Baltic states, add further forces not included here.
With the United States
Including the US, NATO’s advantage is overwhelming on almost every measure. These eight countries alone spent more than seven times as much as Russia in 2025 and operate four times as many aircraft. Nuclear arsenals are the main exception: Russia’s estimated 4,400 warheads are roughly equal to the combined stockpiles of the US, UK and France.
Without the United States
The more pressing question for European governments is how they would fare with less American support. Without the US, the seven European and Turkish allies in our dataset still outspend Russia more than two to one and have more active troops, aircraft, ships and fighters.
But Russia keeps important advantages. It has more tanks and submarines, far more artillery, and a nuclear arsenal nearly nine times larger than Britain’s and France’s combined. Its forces are under a single command with one set of equipment, and they have years of combat experience from Ukraine. Europe’s are split across separate national militaries with different weapons, supply chains and readiness levels.
What the numbers miss
Europe also depends heavily on the US for capabilities that do not show up well in headline counts: aerial refuelling tankers, satellite intelligence, long-range strike missiles, airlift and large stocks of air-defence interceptors. The US operates about 610 tankers; the rest of the countries above have a few dozen between them (see tankers, transports and helicopters).
Russia, meanwhile, has committed most of its ground forces to Ukraine, and has taken very heavy losses there. Its ability to fight NATO would depend heavily on how the war ends and how quickly it can rebuild.
Spending is moving fast
Europe’s spending is rising sharply. Germany’s budget grew 24% in 2025, Poland’s 23% and Spain’s 50%, and NATO members have committed to reach 5% of GDP on defence and related security spending by 2035. See Europe’s rearmament in numbers.
Compare Russia directly with individual allies: the United States, Poland, the UK or France.