Special Report

The NATO Countries with the Strongest Militaries

BEL:  Prince Amedeo Of Belgium Testifies To Become Officer In The Army
2007 Getty Images / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images

The North Atlantic Treaty Organization, or NATO for short, was established in the wake of World War II to provide security to Western Europe from the expansion of the Soviet Union. The organization was founded in April 1949 and has ever since acted as a stabilizing factor throughout the region, relying on the military might of its collective nations. (Here is a comparison of Russia and NATOs military strength.)

One of the founding principles of NATO is collective defense outlined in Article 5 of the treaty. Basically, this states that an armed attack against any one of NATO’s members is considered an attack against all members. Any attack under Article 5 would trigger other nations in NATO to come to the aid of whichever country suffered the attack. Effectively, NATO acts as a political and military alliance.

Many of the nations that fill out NATO are fairly strong militarily like the United States, United Kingdom or France. On the other hand, some member states are weaker, but each plays a role in the alliance.

To determine the countries with the strongest military might in NATO, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2024 Military Strength Ranking from Global Firepower, an annually updated defense-related statistics website with information on 145 countries. Global Firepower ranked 145 countries based on their PowerIndex, a composite of over 60 measures in categories such as military might, financials, logistical capability, and geography. The smaller the PowerIndex value the more powerful a nation’s theoretical conventional fighting capability is. We included supplemental information regarding active military personnel, military aircraft, vehicles, and naval power as well.

One country that has no military but is still part of NATO is Iceland. This frozen nation never established a standing army after it received its independence, despite being a founding member of NATO. Instead, Iceland relies on the collective defense guarantee should any need arise. (These are the NATO members with the highest military spending.)

Here is a look at the NATO countries with the strongest militaries:

31. Iceland

patpongs / iStock via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 3.5038
  • Active military personnel: 0
  • Total military aircraft: 0
  • Total military vehicles: 175
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 0

30. Montenegro

CatEyePerspective / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 2.9109
  • Active military personnel: 2,350
  • Total military aircraft: 11
  • Total military vehicles: 662
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 13

29. North Macedonia

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 2.1717
  • Active military personnel: 9,000
  • Total military aircraft: 20
  • Total military vehicles: 2,156
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 0

28. Luxembourg

SvetlanaSF / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 2.1458
  • Active military personnel: 1,000
  • Total military aircraft: 1
  • Total military vehicles: 180
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 0

27. Latvia

Uldis Zile / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 1.9911
  • Active military personnel: 17,250
  • Total military aircraft: 7
  • Total military vehicles: 1,544
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 18

26. Slovenia

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 1.8286
  • Active military personnel: 7,300
  • Total military aircraft: 38
  • Total military vehicles: 1,502
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 2

25. Albania

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 1.8188
  • Active military personnel: 6,600
  • Total military aircraft: 19
  • Total military vehicles: 976
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 19

24. Lithuania

Upelon / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 1.7395
  • Active military personnel: 23,000
  • Total military aircraft: 9
  • Total military vehicles: 1,356
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 11

23. Estonia

2022 Getty Images / Getty Images News via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 1.7237
  • Active military personnel: 7,700
  • Total military aircraft: 7
  • Total military vehicles: 1,409
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 10

22. Belgium

2007 Getty Images / Getty Images Entertainment via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 1.2064
  • Active military personnel: 25,000
  • Total military aircraft: 110
  • Total military vehicles: 4,606
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 9

21. Slovakia

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 1.1891
  • Active military personnel: 19,500
  • Total military aircraft: 37
  • Total military vehicles: 2,048
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 0

20. Croatia

Goran Jakus Photography / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 1.1333
  • Active military personnel: 14,325
  • Total military aircraft: 81
  • Total military vehicles: 3,076
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 32

19. Bulgaria

martin-dm / iStock via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 1.0132
  • Active military personnel: 37,000
  • Total military aircraft: 65
  • Total military vehicles: 7,420
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 40

18. Hungary

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 0.8478
  • Active military personnel: 41,600
  • Total military aircraft: 62
  • Total military vehicles: 7,797
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 0

17. Finland

wstryder / Flickr
  • Military strength score: 0.7967
  • Active military personnel: 24,000
  • Total military aircraft: 164
  • Total military vehicles: 11,716
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 246

16. Denmark

Plougmann / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.7743
  • Active military personnel: 20,000
  • Total military aircraft: 119
  • Total military vehicles: 4,056
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 91

15. Romania

2022 Getty Images / Getty Images News via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.7712
  • Active military personnel: 81,300
  • Total military aircraft: 131
  • Total military vehicles: 9,990
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 20

14. Czechia

Chalabala / iStock via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.7706
  • Active military personnel: 28,000
  • Total military aircraft: 88
  • Total military vehicles: 6,757
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 0

13. Norway

ajw1970 / Flickr
  • Military strength score: 0.5664
  • Active military personnel: 23,250
  • Total military aircraft: 102
  • Total military vehicles: 7,048
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 25

12. Netherlands

VanderWolf-Images / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.5644
  • Active military personnel: 41,380
  • Total military aircraft: 143
  • Total military vehicles: 3,176
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 112

11. Portugal

mtcurado / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.5609
  • Active military personnel: 24,000
  • Total military aircraft: 117
  • Total military vehicles: 11,173
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 113

10. Greece

BalkansCat / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.4349
  • Active military personnel: 142,700
  • Total military aircraft: 632
  • Total military vehicles: 57,030
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 187

9. Canada

2020 Getty Images / Getty Images News via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.3813
  • Active military personnel: 68,000
  • Total military aircraft: 375
  • Total military vehicles: 18,054
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 67

8. Poland

Public Domain / usarmyeurope_images / Flickr
  • Military strength score: 0.2917
  • Active military personnel: 202,100
  • Total military aircraft: 468
  • Total military vehicles: 13,956
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 45

7. Spain

ManuelVelasco / iStock Unreleased via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.2882
  • Active military personnel: 133,282
  • Total military aircraft: 513
  • Total military vehicles: 15,046
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 168

6. Germany

ewg3D / iStock via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.2847
  • Active military personnel: 181,600
  • Total military aircraft: 618
  • Total military vehicles: 79,317
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 64

5. France

Gwengoat / iStock Editorial via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.1878
  • Active military personnel: 200,000
  • Total military aircraft: 972
  • Total military vehicles: 85,023
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 128

4. Italy

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 0.1863
  • Active military personnel: 165,500
  • Total military aircraft: 800
  • Total military vehicles: 61,892
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 309

3. Turkey

Public Domain / Wikimedia Commons
  • Military strength score: 0.1697
  • Active military personnel: 355,200
  • Total military aircraft: 1,069
  • Total military vehicles: 55,104
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 186

2. United Kingdom

ikholwadia / iStock via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.1443
  • Active military personnel: 184,860
  • Total military aircraft: 664
  • Total military vehicles: 27,203
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 117

1. United States

DanielBendjy / E+ via Getty Images
  • Military strength score: 0.0699
  • Active military personnel: 1,328,000
  • Total military aircraft: 13,209
  • Total military vehicles: 360,069
  • Total navy ships and submarines: 472

Want to Retire Early? Start Here (Sponsor)

Want retirement to come a few years earlier than you’d planned? Or are you ready to retire now, but want an extra set of eyes on your finances?

Now you can speak with up to 3 financial experts in your area for FREE. By simply clicking here you can begin to match with financial professionals who can help you build your plan to retire early. And the best part? The first conversation with them is free.

Click here to match with up to 3 financial pros who would be excited to help you make financial decisions.

Thank you for reading! Have some feedback for us?
Contact the 24/7 Wall St. editorial team.