Pay system, contracts & programmes

How pay and appointments work at NATO.

Co-ordinated Organizations system

European and Co-ordinated Organizations operate their own harmonized salary and benefits system, separate from the UN common system. How Co-ordinated Organisation pay works ›

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Salary & benefits at NATO

NATO grades civilian posts on a single salary spine of 24 grades, and pays the same grade differently in each country it operates in — grade G17 is roughly a quarter higher in Germany than in Italy. Salaries and emoluments paid to NATO international staff are exempt from taxation. Staff normally start at step one of their grade and advance a step a year, so every figure below is a starting salary, not a ceiling.

NATO grades 24 grades · 12 countries · published basic, first step, per month · effective 1 Feb 2026 · source

Salary estimator What does a grade actually pay? Pick a grade and duty station in the estimator, or jump straight to a grade below.

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G1 G2 G3 G4 G5 G6 G7 G8 G9 G10 G11 G12 G13 G14 G15 G16 G17 G18 G19 G20 G21 G22 G23 G24

NATO publishes these twelve countries at this source. Posts in France, Estonia, Ukraine, Canada and Kosovo are on scales NATO does not publish here, so no figure is shown for them rather than a figure borrowed from another country.

What comes with the salary

A published figure at NATO is neither take-home nor total package. These are the terms that sit around it.

Added on top of salary Paid in addition to the published figure, where the conditions are met.

Expatriation allowance conditional Paid to staff recruited from outside the host country, assessed at recruitment and reviewed as personal circumstances change. Conditions and rates are set by each organisation.
Family and dependants' allowances conditional Household and dependent-child allowances, paid per month and per dependant irrespective of grade.
Education allowance conditional Towards the schooling of dependent children, up to ceilings the Co-ordinated Organisations review jointly on a three-year cycle.

Taken off the salary Deducted before anything reaches an account — the reason a published figure is not take-home.

Internal tax Levied by the organisation itself. In exchange, salaries and emoluments are exempt from national income tax in member states — so a published figure is not comparable with a private-sector gross salary.
Pension contribution A percentage of salary, deducted at source, under the pension scheme rules the Co-ordinated Organisations agree jointly and administer through the ISRP.
Social security contribution Towards the organisation's own scheme rather than the host country's.

Pension & protection What accrues, and what covers a staff member and their family.

Pension scheme A defined-benefit scheme under jointly agreed rules. Several of the six now run more than one scheme in parallel, with newer staff on later terms.
Health and social cover Health insurance for staff and generally their family, through the organisation's own social security arrangements.
Post adjustment not provided There is none. Location is handled by publishing a different scale for each country, not by a multiplier on a single global base — the opposite of the UN common system.

Terms are the employer's own and can change; the governing staff regulations prevail over anything summarised here. Amounts quoted are the figures in the published document at the time of writing and are reviewed periodically.

Everything above is drawn from published documents. Is this your organization? Add your own benefits and what you offer — it appears on this page under your name.

About NATO

Washington, D.C., United States
Founded 1949
European and Co-ordinated Organizations

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