The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO, has been in the news a lot this year.
How much do you know about the organization? And how does your knowledge stack up against the U.S. public’s as a whole?
Take our quiz below to find out. Then read our analysis of Americans’ knowledge about NATO, based on a March 2026 Pew Research Center survey of 3,507 U.S. adults.
How much do Americans know about NATO?
| Question | Response | Percent |
|---|---|---|
| As far as you know, Greenland is a territory of which country? | Denmark (Correct) | 63% |
| Russia | 2 | |
| Finland | 8 | |
| Canada | 3 | |
| Not sure | 24 | |
| NATO is an international alliance with member states concentrated in which two regions of the world? | North America and the Asia Pacific | 3% |
| Europe and Asia | 3 | |
| The Middle East and North Africa | 2 | |
| Europe and North America (Correct) | 57 | |
| Not sure | 34 | |
| Which of the following is a central focus of NATO? | Promoting trade among its members | 12% |
| Prosecuting international crimes | 3 | |
| Reducing the effects of climate change | 3 | |
| Promoting the security of its members (Correct) | 55 | |
| Not sure | 27 | |
| Which of the following countries is not a member of NATO? | Estonia | 3% |
| Turkey | 3 | |
| Bulgaria | 2 | |
| Ukraine (Correct) | 45 | |
| Not sure | 45 | |
| In recent years, has the amount that U.S. NATO allies in Europe spend on their national defense… | Increased (Correct) | 34% |
| Decreased | 8 | |
| Stayed about the same | 13 | |
| Not sure | 44 |
To better understand what Americans know about NATO, we asked five factual questions about the organization and related issues.
A majority of Americans got each of the following three questions correct:
- 63% of adults correctly said Greenland is a territory of Denmark.
- 57% correctly said NATO membership is concentrated in Europe and North America.
- 55% correctly said a central focus of NATO is promoting the security of its members.
Fewer than half of adults got the other two questions correct:
- 45% correctly said Ukraine is not a member of NATO.
- 34% correctly said America’s NATO allies in Europe have increased their defense spending in recent years. (On each of these questions, an equal or larger share were not sure.)
How does NATO knowledge differ by demographic group and party?
On average, Americans answered half of our NATO knowledge questions correctly, with a mean score of 2.5. The median score was 3.
| Group | Mean number correct | Grey bars | Grouping |
|---|---|---|---|
| Total | 2.5 | 2.5 | Total |
| Men | 3.1 | 1.9 | Gender |
| Women | 2.0 | 3.0 | Gender |
| H.S. or less | 1.9 | 3.1 | Education |
| Some college | 2.6 | 2.4 | Education |
| Bachelor’s | 3.1 | 1.9 | Education |
| Postgrad | 3.4 | 1.6 | Education |
| Ages 18-29 | 2.1 | 2.9 | Age |
| 30-49 | 2.3 | 2.7 | Age |
| 50-64 | 2.7 | 2.3 | Age |
| 65+ | 2.9 | 2.1 | Age |
| Rep/Lean Rep | 2.6 | 2.4 | Party |
| Dem/Lean Dem | 2.7 | 2.3 | Party |
Americans’ NATO knowledge varies somewhat by demographic group:
- Gender: Men answer more questions correctly than women, on average. (Gender differences in knowledge assessments have appeared in academic literature and past Center surveys, such as the one we conducted on international affairs. These differences might be driven by the fact that men are more likely than women to guess on knowledge questions, as opposed to reporting they’re unsure.)
- Education: Americans with at least a bachelor’s degree tend to get more questions correct than those with less education.
- Age: Americans ages 50 and older tend to score higher than younger adults.
There is no significant difference by political party. On average, Republicans and Republican-leaning independents answered 2.6 questions correctly, compared with 2.7 among Democrats and Democratic leaners.
Does public opinion about NATO vary based on NATO knowledge?
Notably, public opinion about NATO tends to be more positive among those who know more about the alliance. Adults who answered four or five of these knowledge questions correctly are more likely to have a favorable view of NATO than those who answered none or one of the questions correctly (63% vs. 47%).
Americans with more knowledge of NATO are also more likely than those with less knowledge to say the U.S. benefits from being a member of the alliance.
How has Americans’ NATO knowledge changed over time?
We asked three of these same NATO knowledge questions in a 2024 survey.
Since then, there has been no major change in the share of U.S. adults who correctly say NATO draws its membership from Europe and North America (57% know the answer today, versus 56% in 2024).
But there have been slight increases in the share of Americans who know that Ukraine is not a member of NATO (45% vs. 41%) and the share who know that NATO’s central focus is to promote the security of its members (55% vs. 51%).
Note: Here are the survey questions used for this analysis, the detailed responses and the survey methodology.
