NATO Countries List
NATO is the abbreviation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization aka North Atlantic Alliance is a security alliance consisting of 30 countries from North America and Europe. It is an international military alliance which was established after World War 2 in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty by its 12 founding countries. The founding members of NATO are Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States.
The main objective of NATO is to safeguard the independence and security of the Allies via political and military action. It serves as a realistic link that binds North American and European security together indefinitely. NATO enlargement has furthered the U.S. vision of a Europe whole, free, and at peace.
As per Article Five of the North Atlantic Treaty, if an armed is carried out against one of the member states of NATO, it shall be considered an attack against all the member states, and other members shall assist the attacked member, with armed forces if necessary.
In this article, you will get the list of North Atlantic Treaty Organization, known as NATO Countries 2023. The central headquarters of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is in Belgium (Brussels), and the military headquarters are near Mons, Belgium.
In July 2022, NATO invited Finland and Sweden to join the organization, and the ratification process for the two countries is in progress. In September 2022, Ukraine applied for NATO membership which led to the Russia-Ukraine war.
NATO Countries List 2023
NATO does not have its own armed forces. But it has a permanent unified military command structure by which civilians and the military of all member states work jointly. The last member country to be added to NATO was “North Macedonia” on 27 March 2020. Since its founding, the admission of new member states has increased the alliance from the original 12 countries to 30.
States use the military capability of each member country of the coalition. Alliance helps to get access to diverse military requirements such as personnel, tanks, fighter jets, submarines, etc. All NATO missions are handled by the ACO under the leadership of SACEUR. The coordination of all forces is managed by The Supreme Allied Commander Europe [SACEUR]. After completing the operation, all the forces return to their respective countries.
Here is a list of The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) which has a total of 30 members, with 2 North American and 28 European states. It is a very important topic from an exam point of view so it’s advised to aspirants to go through it carefully and remember the names –
NATO Countries Name | Year of Joining |
Belgium | 1949 |
Canada | 1949 |
Denmark | 1949 |
France | 1949 |
Iceland | 1949 |
Italy | 1949 |
Luxembourg | 1949 |
Netherlands | 1949 |
Norway | 1949 |
Portugal | 1949 |
United Kingdom | 1949 |
United States | 1949 |
Greece | 1952 |
Turkey | 1952 |
Germany | 1955 |
Spain | 1982 |
Czech Republic | 1999 |
Hungary | 1999 |
Poland | 1999 |
Bulgaria | 2004 |
Estonia | 2004 |
Latvia | 2004 |
Lithuania | 2004 |
Romania | 2004 |
Slovakia | 2004 |
Slovenia | 2004 |
Albania | 2009 |
Croatia | 2009 |
Montenegro | 2017 |
North Macedonia | 2020 |