North Macedonian defence expenditure increased around 30% between 2017 and 2020. Further increases have been planned after the country became a member of NATO in 2020. Before that, it was spending roughly 1% on the military. Defence expenditure has taken up an increasing portion of the total government spending, from 2.7%in 2017 to 5% that was planned for 2022.
2021
Share of GDP 1.43%
Share of total government
expenditure 4.02%
The Assembly of the Republic of North Macedonia usually adopts budget laws in late December, while balance sheets are adopted regularly, with some occasional delays. The MoD regularly publishes semi-annual budget realisation reports.
North Macedonian defence budget changed in 2021, as the country signed the contract to buy Stryker light armoured vehicles. This purchase altered the budget structure in favour of arms and equipment.
Similar to other countries in the region, North Macedonia uses programme budgeting, which is not sufficiently disaggregated. Budgets and balance sheets show highly aggregated sums for different programmes, and sources of funding are presented for the entire MoD budget.
* Data for 2021 and 2022 are based on the last changes in the 2021 budgets and the initial budget laws for 2022.