Charts and visualisations about the military.
Countries with the largest military budgets ranked by defense spending in billions USD (2023).
The 20 countries with the largest active military personnel in the world. China leads with over 2 million active troops, followed by India at 1.5 million and the United States at 1.34 million. North Korea and Russia round out the top five with over 1.2 million each.
Countries with the largest estimated nuclear warhead stockpiles. Russia leads with 4,400 total warheads, followed by the United States at 3,700 and China with 620. The 9 nuclear-armed states together hold an estimated 9,745 warheads.
The 20 countries with the largest air forces ranked by total military aircraft across all service branches. The United States dominates with over 13,000 aircraft — more than Russia, China, and India combined.
Global Firepower's 2026 PowerIndex ranks the United States as the world's most powerful military (0.0741), ahead of Russia and China. Lower scores mean stronger conventional fighting capability.
China fields the largest active tank fleet in the world at about 6,800 tanks, edging out Russia (5,750) and the United States (4,640). North Korea (4,344) and India (4,201) round out the top five.
Ukraine leads the world, spending a staggering 39.6% of its GDP on defense amid wartime, far ahead of Algeria (8.8%) and Israel (7.8%). Heightened NATO budgets push Poland, Latvia, Estonia, and Denmark past the 3% mark.
China fields the world's largest navy by hull count at 841 active vessels, followed by Russia (747) and the United States (465). The US still dominates by tonnage, floating roughly 8.3 million tonnes against China's 3.2 million.
