"I expect 18 allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defense this year," Jens Stoltenberg said at a news conference in Brussels, adding overall military spending was set for another record year as the Russia-Ukraine war is entering a third year.
NATO's European states would invest a combined total of $380 billion in defense this year, Stoltenberg added, Reuters reported.
Berlin will meet the 2% target this year for the first time since the end of the Cold War.
In 2023, eleven allies are expected to have met the 2% target according to prior NATO estimates - Poland, the United States, Greece, Estonia, Lithuania, Finland, Romania, Hungary, Latvia, Britain and Slovakia.
The new figures come only days after former US president Donald Trump shocked Europeans by suggesting that the United States might not protect NATO allies who are not spending enough on defense from a potential Russian attack.