List of NATO Countries 2023 Map, Members, Names & Full Form PDF Download

List of NATO Countries

NATO is a security alliance consisting of 31 countries from North America and Europe that were established in 1949 with the signing of the Washington Treaty. NATO is the abbreviation of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. The main objective of NATO is to protect the independence and security of the Allies via political and military action. NATO continues to be the transatlantic community’s major security tool and a representation of its shared democratic values. 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.

list of NATO Countries 2023 and When they joined – North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) was formed on the basis of the North Atlantic Treaty signed on 4th April 1949. Currently, there are 31 NATO members including 28 European members, 2 North American members, and 1 Eurasian member.

The NATO headquartered is in Brussels, Belgium and Allied Command Operations headquarter is near Mons, Belgium. Originally 12 members had signed the treaty in 1949. Under Article 10 of the North Atlantic Treaty Membership of NATO is open to all European States, to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic Region. However, the alliance has grown to 30 NATO members with North Macedonia being the latest country to join in 2020.

List of NATO Countries 2023

Out of the 30 Countries of NATO 27 countries are in Europe, one country in Eurasia, and 2 in North America. A list of 30 countries in the NATO Alliance is given below with the year they joined in brackets.

Member Country	Capital City
Founding Members of NATO (1949): The North Atlantic Treaty, often known as the Washington Treaty, was signed by the foreign ministers of 12 countries on April 4, 1949, in Washington, D.C.	Belgium	Brussels
	Canada	Ottawa
	Denmark	Copenhagen
	France	Paris
	Iceland	Reykjavík
	Italy	Rome
	Luxembourg	Luxembourg (Letzeburg city)
	The Netherlands	Amsterdam
	Norway	Oslo
	Portugal	Lisbon
	The United Kingdom	London
	The United States	Washington, D.C.
Other Member Countries: Later, some other countries joined the NATO alliance. The NATO enlargement states that “any other European state in a position to further the objectives of this Treaty and to contribute to the security of the North Atlantic area” is eligible to join.	Greece (1952)	Athens
	Türkiye (1952)	Ankara
	Germany (1955)	Berlin
	Spain (1982)	Madrid
	Czechia (1999)	Prague
	Hungary (1999)	Budapest
	Poland (1999)	Warsaw
	Bulgaria (2004)	Sofia
	Estonia (2004)	Tallinn
	Latvia (2004)	Riga
	Lithuania (2004)	Vilnius
	Romania (2004)	Bucharest
	Slovakia (2004)	Bratislava
	Slovenia (2004)	Ljubljana
	Albania (2009)	Tirana
	Croatia (2009)	Zagreb
	Montenegro (2017)	Podgorica
	North Macedonia (2020)	Skopje
	Finland (2023)	Helsinki

NATO Founding Members List

In 1949, there were 12 founding members of the NATO Alliance.

1. Canada
2. United States
3. United Kingdom
4. Belgium
5. Denmark
6. France
7. Italy
8. Iceland
9. Portugal
10. Netherland
11. Norway
12. Luxembourg

NATO Members Map

NATO Headquarters

The NATO headquarters are located in Brussels, Belgium, while the headquarters of Allied Command Operations is near Mons, Belgium.

NATO Founder Countries

NATO’s 12 founding members are the United States, the United Kingdom, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway and Portugal.

NATO Countries Purpose & Objectives

Political

NATO encourages democratic principles and gives its members the opportunity to consult and work together on defence and security-related matters in order to solve disputes, foster trust, and, ultimately, minimize conflict.

Military

NATO is dedicated to resolving conflicts through peaceful means. It has the military might to conduct crisis-management operations if diplomatic attempts are ineffective. These are carried out on their own or in collaboration with other countries and international organisations in accordance with a United Nations mandate or the collective defence provision of the Washington Treaty’s Article 5 of NATO.

Collective Defence

NATO is dedicated to the idea that an attack on one or more of its members constitutes an attack on all of them. This is the collective defence principle, which is outlined in Washington Treaty Article 5 of the agreement. In reaction to the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001, Article 5 has only been used once so far.

Transatlantic Link

North American and European countries are members of NATO. It creates a special connection between these two continents, allowing them to consult, work together on security and defence issues, and coordinate international crisis management activities.

Finland Joining NATO

Finland officially became the 31st member of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), marking a major shift in the security landscape in northeastern Europe.

Implications of Finland Joining NATO

• Enhanced security for Finland: Finland shares an 832-mile border with Russia. Adding Finland to NATO will more than double the size of NATO’s border with Russia, and it will double security on the border.
• Impact for Russia: NATO’s expansion as a threat to Russia’s sphere of influence. This could lead to a further deterioration of relations between Russia and the West, potentially escalating regional conflicts and creating new geopolitical fault lines.
• Changing the balance of power: Finland’s membership in NATO could strengthen the alliance’s position in the Baltic Sea region and potentially alter the balance of power vis-à-vis Russia.
• Impact on Arctic region’s geopolitics: Finland joining NATO adds real military capability to the Western alliance in the Nordic region, potentially impacting the Arctic region’s geopolitics and commercial attractiveness, and making global governance of the Arctic region increasingly problematic. India is an observer of the Arctic Council that seeks to promote wide-ranging cooperation in the polar north.

NATO Expansion

The Soviet Union responded to NATO by creating its own military alliance with seven other Eastern European communist states in 1955, dubbed the Warsaw Pact. But after the collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991, a number of former Warsaw Pact countries became NATO members. This includes Hungary, Poland, Bulgaria, Estonia, and Latvia among others. The most recent additions were North Macedonia in 2020 and Finland in 2023, bringing the total number of NATO member states to 31.

Major Non-NATO Ally Status

Non-NATO Ally Status is a designation given by the US government to close allies that have strategic working relationships with the US Armed Forces but are not members of NATO. The US has designated 30 other countries including Japan, South Korea, Japan, Israel etc. as major non-NATO allies.

The status confers a variety of military and financial advantages such as participation in defence research projects and counter-terrorism initiatives, buying depleted uranium ammunition etc. that otherwise are not obtainable by non-NATO countries.

NATO Partner Countries List

Ukraine-Russia Crisis and NATO

At the heart of the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia is NATO. Russia doesn’t want Ukraine or any other ex-Soviet Nation to be a part of NATO. Taking a stand on the ongoing crisis, NATO said that it would take new deterrence and defense steps after the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

NATO will put over 100 warplanes on high alert and further increase the presence of troops on its eastern flank. NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg said there would be a virtual emergency summit on Friday. 

“Peace on our continent has been shattered. Russia is using force to try to rewrite history, and deny Ukraine its free and independent path,” said NATO secretary-general Jens Stoltenberg. He added, “We have no plans to send Nato troops in Ukraine. What we do is defensive.”

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List of NATO Countries 2023 (FAQ)