The Ultimate Military Index 

 

Which military in the world would be the most successful? We reveal which world military would win in an all out war! 

Some countries have bigger militaries than others. Some have better land capacity, whilst some do better in the air, or at sea. Some pay their soldiers poorly, whilst some have almost unlimited amounts of money and resources. But which of the world’s biggest armies is the best? 

Taking a list of some of the world’s biggest military machines, we’ve pulled the numbers to find out! We’ve scored each military up to 10 points on a variety of mighty military factors - including budgets, number of inactive and active military personnel, total air, sea, land and nuke power, average salaries, weight of equipment - out of a top total score of 100.

Our Ultimate Military Index reveals the strengths and weaknesses of the world’s biggest forces, answering once and for all - which military would win in a fight?

The World’s Greatest Military Machine 

Coming in the first place as the world’s best military machine, it’s China with 82/100.

This overall ranking takes into account everything in our criteria - so that’s military budget, number of active and inactive personnel, total air, land, sea and nuclear capacity, heaviness of equipment, average salary at private and lieutenant level. Each criteria point was given a weighted score for a maximum of 10 points.

The Top 10: 

Rank	Country/Military	Score /100
1	China	82
2	United States	74
3	Russian Federation	69
4	India	61
5	France	58
6	Saudi Arabia	56
7	South Korea	55
8	Japan	45
9	United Kingdom	43
10	Germany	39

The USA, despite their enormous military budgets, comes in 2nd place with 74 points, followed by Russia with 69, India at 61 and then France with 58. The UK just about makes the Top 10, coming in 9th place with a score of 43.

Based on these scores, which account for budgets, men, and things like air and navy capacity, it does suggest that China would come out as top dog in a hypothetical super conflict.

Here’s how the scores broke down for each category - each scored out of a total of 10:

Country	Budget	Personnel	Active	Air	Land	Naval	Nuke	PVT $	LT $	Equipment	Total
China	9	8	10	8	9	10	7	7	7	7	82
United States	10	7	9	10	10	8	8	3	6	3	74
Russian Federation	6	8	8	9	10	9	10	2	4	3	69
India	8	9	9	7	6	8	1	2	1	10	61
France	4	5	5	5	4	5	5	8	9	8	58
Saudi Arabia	6	6	6	4	7	1	0	8	10	7	56
South Korea	2	10	7	6	8	7	0	4	5	6	55
Japan	4	4	4	6	5	7	0	5	6	4	45
United Kingdom	4	2	3	3	3	5	3	9	8	4	44
Germany	4	3	3	3	3	3	0	10	4	6	39
Canada	1	2	2	1	1	2	0	8	8	2	27
Australia	2	1	2	2	2	4	0	7	0	3	23

Full breakdowns of the scoring methodology can be found at the bottom of the page. 

The Biggest Budget 

No surprises here, the world’s biggest military spender with a whopping budget of $732 billion per year is the USA. China comes 2nd, with $261 billion followed by India at $71 billion. 

The UK is of course much smaller, with $48.7 billion, putting us just below France and Japan but above the US and South Korea. But with the UK Government looking to add $21.9 billion to their budget in 2021, rankings could definitely change in the future. Of course, having the most money doesn’t necessarily translate into being the most successful military - but it certainly helps!

Country	Military Budget ($ Billion)	Score /10
United States	732	10
China	261	9
India	71.1	8
Russian Federation	65.1	6
Saudi Arabia	61.9	6
France	50.1	4
Japan	47.6	4
United Kingdom	48.7	4
Germany	47.3	4
South Korea	43.9	2

Who would win by air? 

How do the big players stack up in the sky? In a purely air-led battle, and based on numbers alone, the US has the clear aerial advantage here - with a total airpower of 14,141! Russia swoops into 2nd but it’s quite a big drop down to 4,682, followed by China with 3,587.

Country	Fighters	Attackers	Transport	Trainers	Special Mission	Tanker Fleet	Helicopters	Attack Helicopters	Total Airpower
USA	1,956	761	945	2765	749	625	5,436	904	14,141
Russian Federation	789	742	429	495	130	19	1,540	538	4,682
China	1,200	371	264	405	115	3	902	327	3,587
India	542	130	251	345	70	6	775	37	2,156
South Korea	402	74	41	296	30	4	734	112	1693
Japan	256	17	61	427	162	6	552	119	1600
France	269	0	118	169	46	23	432	69	1,126
Saudi Arabia	279	81	50	186	13	35	258	34	936
Germany	137	75	72	32	40	7	338	56	757
United Kingdom	119	15	45	244	30	9	239	38	739

Who would win by land? 

It makes sense that Russia, with a land mass covering most of the planet’s time zones, would have the biggest total land power. The Russian Federation totals 54,866 land units, putting the country just ahead of the United States with 50,326. China comes 3rd with 41,641.

Country	Tanks	Armoured Vehicles	Self Propelled Artillery	Towed Artillery	Rocket Projectors	Aircraft Carriers	Helicopter Carriers	Total Land Power
Russian Federation	13,000	27,000	6,540	4,465	3,860	1	0	54,866
United States	6,100	40,000	1,500	1,340	1,365	11	10	50,326
China	3,205	35,000	1,950	1,234	250	2	0	41,641
South Korea	2,600	14,100	3,040	3,854	574	0	1	24,169
Saudi Arabia	1,062	12,500	705	1,800	300	0	0	16,367
India	4,730	10	100	4,040	374	1	0	9,255
Japan	1,004	5,500	214	480	99	0	4	7,301
France	406	6,420	109	12	13	1	3	6964
United Kingdom	109	5,500	89	126	35	2	0	5861
Germany	344	5,260	117	0	28	0	0	5749

Who would win by sea? 

China has pushed to become a bigger naval power over the last few decades, and now has an impressively big fleet. China comes in 1st place with a total naval power of 406. Russia comes 2nd with 278, followed by the USA in joint 3rd with India with 202.

Country	Destroyers	Frigates	Corvettes	Submarines	Patrols	Mines	Total Naval Power
China	50	46	72	79	123	36	406
Russian Federation	15	11	85	64	55	48	278
United States	92	0	21	68	13	8	202
India	10	13	23	17	139	0	202
South Korea	12	14	12	22	26	11	97
Japan	37	0	6	20	6	21	90
United Kingdom	6	13	0	11	25	13	68
Franca	11	11	0	10	15	17	64
Australia	3	8	0	6	13	6	36
Germany	0	10	5	6	0	12	33

What’s perhaps the most interesting here is how the big three players split between land, air and sea. The USA has the air, Russia the land and China the sea, making them evenly matched but on different playing fields. 

The Nuclear Option

In an all out last-ditch nuclear attack, and based on numbers alone, it’s the Russian Federation which comes out on top with 6375 available nuclear weapons. The USA lands in second with 5800, and then it’s quite a drop down until we hit China with just 320. France and the UK make up the rest of the top five.  

Country	Nuclear Arms
Russian Federation	6375
United States	5800
China	320
France	290
United Kingdom	215
India	150

The Best Paid Soldiers in the World

If the most successful army is the one who supports their troops the most, then Canada would come out on top. The country has high salaries across each level of service, from private to sergeant and lieutenant, and in our 10 point scoring system points, would hit 26/30 for overall salary satisfaction. France comes second, with strong starting salaries across each level. 

Country	Private	Sergeant	Lieutenant	Average	Total	Score Total /30
Canada	27,400	52,800	43,800	41,333	124000	26
France	28,520.76	27,834.96	53,079.36	36,478	109435.08	23
United Kingdom	10,217.26	50,583.21	29,068.97	29,956	89869.44	20
United States4	23,100	28,000	37,300	29,467	88400	19
Saudia Arabia	26,000	14,622.36	48,830	29,817	89451.88	18
Japan	33,600	NA	40,713.28	37,157	74313.28	17
Australia	21,861.24	43,971	NA	32,916	65832.24	15
Germany	8,995	35,612.39	21,146.52	21,918	65753.91	15
South Korea	36,000	5,853.36	18,528	20,127	60381.36	15
China	4,147.20	5,600	29,445	13,064	39192.68	10
India	1,458.92	NA	18,600	29,467	20058.92	6
Russian Federation	379.82	5,691	1,545	2538	7615.46	4

Which army is the fittest? 

Based on the heaviness of the standard equipment carried, it’s the Russian Federation with the world’s toughest soldiers, having to carry an enormous 70kgs of kit. The United Kingdom is no slouch though, coming in 2nd place with 64kg, followed by the United States in 3rd place with 45kg.

Country	Equipment Weight
Russian Federation	70kg
United Kingdom	64kg
United States	45kg
Australia	45kg
Saudi Arabia	44kg
South Korea	44kg
China	40kg
India	40kg
Japan	40kg
France	35kg
Germany	30kg
Canada	24.5kg

Which army is the most active? 

It’s one thing to have soldiers, but you need to be able to use them. Saudi Arabia has the largest percentage of active soldiers available for combat, with 95% of them ready to go at any time, any place. Germany comes 2nd, with 86% and Japan 3rd with 78%.

Country	Total Military Personnel	Active Personnel	% Active
Saudi Arabia	505,000	480,000	95%
Germany	215,000	185,000	86%
Japan	319,000	250,000	78%
United Kingdom	250,070	195,000	77%
Australia	80,000	60,000	75%
China	3,355,000	2,100,000	62.50%
United States	2,295,500	1,400,000	61%
France	450,000	270,000	60%
Canada	112,500	60,000	53%
Russian Federation	3,569,000	1,014,000	28%
India	5,127,000	1,400,000	27%
South Korea	6,710,000	600,000	8%

Methodology

We pulled the data together from a variety of different sources, including military reports, databases and news reports on force capabilities. We used a base list of the world’s biggest militaries. Where information could not be pulled from English sites due to lack of reporting, information was pulled on individual countries’ capabilities through their native Google / national search engine.

We had the following data sets available to us: budgets, number of inactive and active military personnel, total numbers for air, sea, land and nuke power, average salaries of sergeants, lieutenants and privates, and finally weight of equipment. These were each given a weighted score which assigned a value out of 10, with higher figures suggesting a stronger military force for our story. More resources work score highly for example, as would a larger percentage of active soldiers, or a high salary as it suggests the military would be more committed. These criteria sets add up for a total over score of 100. 

The sources, full data set and sources, can be found here.

Shop at Military Direct for all your combat needs - uniforms and accessories, tactical clothing, and survival kits.