A look back at NATO's 75th anniversary year

The holiday season has arrived, and it's time to look back at an eventful year for the Alliance.

This year's holiday video features NATO's newest member, ???? Sweden, and its Air Force showcasing its traditional 'Julgransflygning'?(Christmas tree formation) ?? ??

The year kicked off NATO’s largest exercise in decades, where 90,000 troops from all 32 Allies took part.

Sweden's historic accession to NATO happened mid-exercise. Just minutes after Sweden’s NATO membership became official, Swedish troops from the South Scanian Regiment lit bonfires in a spontaneous celebration in Finnish Lapland.

In February, NATO Allies took part in a ceremony marking two years since Russia’s full-fledged invasion of Ukraine. Deputy Secretary General Mircea Geoan? welcomed Ukraine’s success on the battlefield since the invasion, and stressed NATO’s continued support to Ukraine.

The Swedish flag was raised at NATO Headquarters for the first time on 11 March 2024 - four days after becoming NATO’s 32nd Ally ????

WATCH the beautiful but rainy ceremony ???

In April we celebrated 75 years since The North Atlantic Treaty was signed on 4 April 1949 by NATO’s 12 founding members. In the 75 years since, the Alliance has grown to include 32 Allies from Europe and North America.

Throughout the year, NATO Allies celebrated the anniversary by painting murals, playing music, sharing birthday cake, and bringing NATO blue to every corner of the Alliance.

WATCH the ceremony at NATO headquarters ??

NATO has kept our people safe and our nations free for over 75 years. How did the Alliance stand the test of time, growing from 12 to 32 Allies? Watch our documentary to see the events that shaped its history since it was founded in 1949 ↓

During the summer, Leaders from the 32 NATO Allies met in Washington, D.C. ???? to take important decisions and set the strategic direction for the future of the Alliance.

LEARN MORE about the key decisions from the #NATOSummit

This year we also said “goodbye” to Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg, the former Prime Minister of Norway ???? who served as Secretary General of NATO since 2014 ??

In this podcast episode, the Secretary General reflects on his time at NATO over the past 10 years. He also shares the personal motivations that led him to accept the job, and how his parents’ values and his own political activity as a young man shaped his views of NATO.

Read about his 3,654 days at the healm.

On 1 October Mark Rutte, the former ???? Dutch Prime Minister, took office as the NATO Secretary General and set out his 3 main priorities for Alliance.

1. To keep NATO strong and ensure defences remain effective and credible, against all threats.
2. Step up NATO’s support for Ukraine and bring it ever closer to NATO.
3. Strengthen NATO’s partnerships.

On his first trip as NATO Secretary General, Mark Rutte visited Kyiv and met with the President of Ukraine, Volodymyr Zelenskyy and pledged continued support for Ukraine ????

19 November marked 1,000 days since Russia launched its brutal full-scale invasion of Ukraine. Ukraine's Armed Forces continue to stand strong, defending their freedom and fighting for Ukraine's future. NATO Allies continue to support them.

In his first major speech as NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte highlighted the critical need to ramp up defence spending and defence production.?

?If we don't spend more together now to prevent war, we will pay a much, much, much higher price later to fight it??

In 2024, photographers from across the Alliance took thousands of pictures documenting NATO’s historic 75th anniversary year. We chose four of our favourite photos and put them to a vote on social media, asking the public to choose NATO’s photo of the year for 2024.

Make sure to check out the details of the winning picture and the runner-ups!

In 2024 we advertised 315 vacancies for NATO International Civilian Staff positions, in a broad range of employment areas.

Including: Political Affairs, Defence & Security, Innovation, Operations, Communication, Human Resources, ICT, Finance, Science & Technology, and Infrastructure & Facilities.

Looking to set yourself a new challenge in 2025? ?

Check out our current vacancies. ?

From all of us, we wish you a Happy New Year!