Andrew Clem.com home

War blog page

 War

World military forces, 1995
No. Country Military expend.
(billion U.S. $)		 Armed forces
(1000s)		 Divisions Tanks Ships Aircraft Nuclear war- heads Subs Aircraft carriers Cruis- ers Dest- royers Frig- ates
1 China 28.5 2930 129 7500 102 4970 450 52     18 32
2 United States 278.8 1547.3 16 12245 239 2859 9824 100 12 32 46 49
3 Russia 113.8 1520 91 19000 358 2150 6914 183 1 50 22 102
4 India 7.4 1145 39 2400 40 844 20 15 2   5 18
5 North Korea 5.6 1128 45 3400 28 509 1 25       3
6 South Korea 13.5 633 26 2050 46 461   6     7 33
7 Pakistan 3.4 587 26 2050 20 430 10 9     3 8
8 Vietnam 0.9 572 31 1300 7 190           7
9 Iran 2.5 513 29 1440 8 295   2     3 3
10 Turkey 6.2 507.8 19 4280 37 447   16     5 16
11 Ukraine 0.9 452.5 14 4775 4 846 @         4
12 Egypt 3 436 16 3500 11 564   4     1 6
13 Syria 2.5 423 12 4600 3 579   1       2
14 France 35.9 409 9 974 60 682 500 18 2 1 4 35
15 Iraq 2.7 382.5 29 2700 1 316           1
16 Taiwan 11.3 376 15 570 42 430   4     22 16
17 Germany 29.1 339.9 9 2695 33 488   20     3 10
18 Italy 16.5 328.7 8 1319 41 369   9 1 1 4 26
19 Brazil 6.4 295 8 546 26 273   5 1   5 15
20 Myanmar (Burma) 0.4 286 10 62 0 91            
21 Poland 2.3 278.6 13 1752 5 412   3     1 1
22 Indonesia 2.3 274.5 14 331 15 73   2       13
23 Thailand 3.6 259 13 253 10 197           10
24 Japan 45.8 239.5 13 1160 81 450   18     8 55
25 United Kingdom 34.9 236.9 4 918 54 559 250 16 3   12 23
26 Romania 0.9 217.4 10 1843 7 402   1     1 5
27 Spain 6.2 206 4 668 26 161   8 1     17
28 Morocco 1.2 195.5 10 524 1 99           1
29 Mexico 1.7 175 12 0 5 101         3 2
30 Israel * 6.9 172 17 4095 2 700 200 2        
31 Greece 3.1 171.3 12 2268 21 351   8     4 9
32 Colombia 0.9 146.4 6 12 6 74   2       4
33 South Africa 3.9 136.9 5 250 3 254   3        
34 Yugoslavia 1.1 126.5 8 639 8 282   4       4
35 Sri Lanka 0.5 125.3 8 25 0 27            
36 Algeria 1.3 121.7 7 960 5 170   2       3
37 Ethiopia 0.1 120   350 0 22            
38 Sudan 0.3 118.5 8 320 0 50            
39 Bangladesh 0.5 115.5 7 140 4 57           4
40 Peru 0.8 115 5 300 17 90   6   2 5 4
41 Malaysia 2.1 114.5 5 26 4 120           4
42 Philippines 0.9 106.5 5 41 1 43           1
43 Saudi Arabia 14.3 105.5 3 1055 8 295           8
44 Croatia 1.7 105 6 176 1 28   1        
45 Cuba 0.4 105 5 1575 5 130   2       3
46 Bulgaria 0.4 101.9 5 1786 3 272   2       1
47 Chile 1.1 99 7 119 13 110   4     5 4
48 Jordan 0.4 98.6 5 1141 0 82            
49 Belarus 0.5 98.4 5 2348 0 349            
50 Bosnia-Hercegovina 0.9 92 6 31 0              
51 Cambodia 0.1 88.5 3 250 0 25            
52 Azerbaijan 0.3 86.7 5 325 0 46            
53 Czech Republic 1 86.4 3 1011 0 224            
54 Angola 0.5 82 8 200 0 109            
55 Libya 1 80 4 2210 6 417   4       2
56 Venezuela 0.8 79 3 70 8 119   2       6
57 Nigeria 1.2 77.1 4 210 1 92           1
58 Netherlands 7.4 74.4 2 740 22 183   4     4 14
59 Albania 0.1 73 9 859 2 98   2        
60 Canada 8.1 70.5 2 114 19 228   3     4 12
61 Hungary 0.6 70.5 4 1016 0 147            
62 United Arab Emirates 1.9 70 2 133 1 97           1
63 Argentina 3.1 67.3 3 296 17 237   3 1   6 7
64 Sweden * 5.6 64 6 708 13 444   13        
65 Armenia 0.1 60 2 128 0 6            
66 Ecuador 0.5 57.1 3 108 4 72   2       2
67 Australia 7.5 56.1 1 90 15 125   4     3 8
68 Austria 1.9 55.8 3 169 0 48            
69 Eritrea 0 55     1             1
70 Portugal 1.6 54.2 2 198 14 97   3       11
71 Singapore 2.9 53.9 4 410 0 155            
72 Uganda 0.1 50 1 20 0 4            
73 Congo D. R. (Zaire) 0.1 49.1 3 60 0 22            
74 Belgium 3.5 47.2 2 132 2 204           2
75 Slovakia 0.4 47 1 912 0 111            
76 Zimbabwe 0.2 45 2 40 0 52            
77 Lebanon 0.3 44.3 4 300 0 3            
78 Guatemala 0.1 44.2 3 10 0 14            
79 Oman 1.9 43.5 1 91 0 46            
80 Kazakhstan 0.4 40 3 1094 0 133            
81 Rwanda 0.1 40   0 0 2            
82 Yemen 0.3 39.5 4 1125 0              
83 Laos 0.1 37 2 30 0 31            
84 Tunisia 0.3 35.5 1 84 0 32            
85 Nepal 0 35 2 0 0 0            
86 Bolivia 0.1 33.5 3 36 0 48            
87 Denmark 2.8 33.1 2 411 8 66   5 3      
88 Finland 2.1 31 3 232 0 108            
89 El Salvador 0.1 30.5 2 0 0 21            
90 Chad 0 30.4 2 60 0 4            
91 Norway 3.4 30 1 170 16 80   12       4
92 Mozambique 0.1 30   380 0 43            
93 Uruguay 0.3 25.6 1   3 36           3
94 Uzbekistan 0.3 25 1 179 0 126            
95 Tanzania 0.1 25 2 65 0 24            
96 Dominican Republic 0.1 24.5 1 24 0 10            
97 Kenya 0.2 24.2 1 76 0 28            
98 Cameroon 0.1 23.6 1 0 0 14            
99 Zambia 0 21.6 1 30 0 59            
100 Mongolia 0 21.1 1 650 0 15            
101 Madagascar 0.2 21     0 12            
102 Paraguay 0.1 20.3 1 5 0 17            
103 Honduras 0.1 18.8 1 12 0 48            
104 Kuwait 3.1 16.6 1 220 0 76            
105 Mauritania 0 15.7 1 35 0 7            
106 Burundi 0 14.6 1 0 0 5            
107 Ivory Coast 0.1 13.9   5 0 4            
108 Senegal 0.1 13.4 1 0 0 8            
109 Ireland 0.7 12.9 1 14 0 20            
110 Nicaragua 0 12 1 130 0 0            
111 Moldova 0 11.9 1 0 0 27            
112 Panama 0.1 11.8   0 0 0            
113 Qatar 0.3 11.1   24 0 12            
114 Turkmenistan 0.1 11 1 530 0 171            
115 Bahrain 0.3 10.7 1 106 1 24           1
116 Macedonia 0 10.4   20 0              
117 New Zealand 0.5 10   26 4 37           4
118 Cyprus 0.4 10 1 52 0 4            
119 Congo 0.1 10 1 40 0 22            
120 Burkina Faso 0.1 10 1 0 0 10            
145 Switzerland * 5.1 3.4 15 869 0 153            
161 Somalia **   0     0              
162 Afghanistan ** 0.4 0   870 0 190            

* After rapid mobilization of citizen reserves, Israel has 602,000 armed forces personnel; Sweden has 793,000 and Switzerland has 400,000.
** Country involved in civil war; no meaningful figures.
@ Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan disposed of the nuclear weapons they had "inherited" from from the former Soviet Union.
NOTE: Many of the above figures are estimates, and the reliability varies from country to country; "Military spending" comparisons are very difficult.
"Armed forces" include only active duty personnel; "Divisions" are the equivalent number of standard-size units, about 12,000 personnel each.
"Ships" include submarines, aircraft carriers, cruisers, destroyers, and frigates; "Aircraft" include combat aircraft only.
SOURCES: International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance 2000-2001; James F. Dunnigan, How to Make War; Washington Post.
COMPILED BY: Andrew G. Clem for POLI / INTL 105, International Relations, Virginia Commonwealth University, Fall 1999.

Top