20 Countries With the Strongest Military Forces

It has been almost two years since the Russian army invaded Ukraine, and despite numerous significant offensives and territorial shifts, there seems to be no resolution in sight. Experts initially believed that the war would be over in a few weeks, due to the superiority of Russia’s armed forces in terms of weapons, personnel and budget, compared to Ukraine.

The predictions about the war ending quickly overlooked certain key factors. First, defenders typically have an advantage, both in motivation to fight and familiarity with the terrain. Secondly, Ukraine is not fighting the conflict alone, as it has received substantial support from international allies, many of which rank among the world’s leading military powers.

In identifying the 20 nations with the strongest military capabilities, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2023 Military Strength Ranking from Global Firepower, an annually updated defense-related statistics website with information on 145 countries. Global Firepower evaluated these countries using their PowerIndex, a composite of more than 60 measures in categories such as military might, financials, logistical capability, and geography. A lower PowerIndex value signifies a nation’s greater theoretical conventional fighting capability.

Supplemental data on armed forces personnel and its percent of the population also came  from Global Firepower. Data on the number of active military aircraft for 2023 came from FlightGlobal, an aviation and aerospace industry website. Military expenditure data for 2022 came from Stockholm International Peace Research Institute.

Here are the 20 countries with the strongest military might:

20. Poland

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.3406
• Armed forces personnel: 152,500 (0.4% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 459 (0.86% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $16.6 billion (0.74% of global military expenditure)

19. Vietnam

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2855
• Armed forces personnel: 3.01 million (2.9% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 223 (0.42% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) Not available

18. Israel

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2757
• Armed forces personnel: 646,000 (7.2% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 601 (1.13% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $23.4 billion (1.04% of global military expenditure)

17. Iran

Iranian Velayat-90 Naval Exercise by IRIN (CC BY 4.0) by Mohammad Sadegh Heydari

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2712
• Armed forces personnel: 1.01 million (1.2% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 541 (1.02% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $6.8 billion (0.31% of global military expenditure)

16. Australia

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2567
• Armed forces personnel: 90,500 (0.3% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 353 (0.66% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $32.3 billion (1.44% of global military expenditure)

15. Ukraine

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2516
• Armed forces personnel: 500,000 (1.1% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 312 (0.59% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $44.0 billion (1.96% of global military expenditure)

14. Egypt

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2224
• Armed forces personnel: 1.22 million (1.1% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 1,069 (2.01% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $4.6 billion (0.21% of global military expenditure)

13. Indonesia

Taruna akmil (CC BY-SA 4.0) by AWG97

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2221
• Armed forces personnel: 1.08 million (0.4% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 466 (0.87% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $9.0 billion (0.40% of global military expenditure)

12. Brazil

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2151
• Armed forces personnel: 2.10 million (1.0% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 665 (1.25% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $20.2 billion (0.90% of global military expenditure)

11. Turkey

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.2016
• Armed forces personnel: 775,000 (0.9% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 1,065 (2.00% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $10.6 billion (0.48% of global military expenditure)

10. Italy

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1973
• Armed forces personnel: 297,000 (0.5% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 850 (1.60% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $33.5 billion (1.50% of global military expenditure)

9. France

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1848
• Armed forces personnel: 415,000 (0.6% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 1,004 (1.88% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $53.6 billion (2.39% of global military expenditure)

8. Japan

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1711
• Armed forces personnel: 309,000 (0.2% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 1,451 (2.72% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $46.0 billion (2.05% of global military expenditure)

7. Pakistan

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1694
• Armed forces personnel: 1.70 million (0.7% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 1,413 (2.65% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $10.3 billion (0.46% of global military expenditure)

6. South Korea

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1505
• Armed forces personnel: 1.13 million (2.2% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 1,602 (3.01% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $46.4 billion (2.07% of global military expenditure)

5. United Kingdom

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1435
• Armed forces personnel: 231,000 (0.3% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 663 (1.24% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $68.5 billion (3.06% of global military expenditure)

4. India

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.1025
• Armed forces personnel: 5.13 million (0.4% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 2,210 (4.15% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $81.4 billion (3.63% of global military expenditure)

3. China

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.0722
• Armed forces personnel: 3.13 million (0.2% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 3,166 (5.94% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $292.0 billion (13.03% of global military expenditure)

2. Russia

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.0714
• Armed forces personnel: 1.33 million (0.9% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 4,182 (7.85% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $86.4 billion (3.86% of global military expenditure)

1. United States

• Global Firepower PowerIndex score: 0.0712
• Armed forces personnel: 1.83 million (0.5% of population)
• Active military aircraft: 13,300 (24.97% of global fleet)
• Defense expenditure (2022) $876.9 billion (39.15% of global military expenditure)