About NATO

• Formed in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty, NATO is a political and military alliance of 32 countries from North America and Europe. 
• Established during the Cold War to counter Soviet aggression, NATO’s primary objective is to protect the freedom and security of its members through both political and military means.
• Article 5 of the Washington Treaty states that an attack against one Ally is an attack against all — is at the core of the Alliance, a promise of collective defence. 

• A “NATO decision” is the expression of the collective will of all 32 member countries since all decisions are taken by consensus.
• NATO is funded by Allies both directly and indirectly. 
  • Direct contributions are made to NATO budgets and programmes on an agreed cost-share formula, based on Gross National Income. Indirect funding is where allies commit capabilities or troops to a military operation. 
• NATO’s Headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium.

Members:

• At present, NATO has 32 members. 
• In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the Alliance: Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States. 
• The other member countries are: Greece and Turkey (1952), Germany (1955), Spain (1982), the Czech Republic, Hungary and Poland (1999), Bulgaria, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia (2004), Albania and Croatia (2009), Montenegro (2017) North Macedonia (2020), Finland (2023) and Sweden (2024).