Since 2014 the number of NATO member countries that set aside 2% of their GDP for defence has increased six times, NATO Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg said on Wednesday, noting that NATO's European members would reach that defence spending target in 2024.

This year I expect 18 allies to spend 2% of their GDP on defence, which is a new record and a six-fold increase from 2014, when only three members met that target, Stoltenberg said at a news conference ahead of a meeting of NATO member-countries in Brussels.

He said that the European allies would invest US$ 380 billion in defence, which makes 2% of their GDP, adding that some of the member countries that spend less than 2% of their GDP on defence would have to start increasing their allocations.

Stoltenberg said that NATO defence ministers would discuss efforts to further step up the production of ammunition, noting that in the past few months alone NATO had signed 10 billion dollar worth of contracts.

This week Germany launched the construction of a new ammunition factory in Lower Saxony, which, once it reaches its full production capacity, will produce 200,000 artillery shells annually.