World's Most Powerful Militaries
James Webb
Business Consultant | Forward Thinking Leadership | Marketing, Skill Development, Manufacturing and Process Improvement
The United States and China account for nearly half of the world’s military spending. Below are some details with respect to military expenditures around the world.
- Global spending on defense hit $1.78 trillion in 2018, up 2.6% on the previous year
- At $649B, the U.S. has the highest military spending in the entire world. This is more than double the next highest-spending country (China).
- China and the United States account for almost half of the world’s military spending
- Yet, India has over twice as many armed forces as the U.S.
- China even has twice the number of armed forces as the U.S.
- Haiti has the lowest military expenses at just $79,691, and no armed forces
- The bottom 5 countries for military personnel combined have less than some U.S. brigades
Utilizing data from The World Bank, numbers have been compiled detailing armed forces personnel and military expenditures for countries across the globe. The graphic doesn’t include countries that haven’t made this information available to The World Bank.
The graphic used above illustrates the military expenditures for most of the world’s countries, while information below details largest / smallest militaries by expenditures and by number of armed forces personnel.
Countries With Highest Military Spending
1. United States: $649B
2. China: $250B
3. Saudi Arabia: $67.6B
4. India: $66.5B
5. France: $63.8B
Countries with Lowest Military Spending
1. Haiti: $79.7K
2. Cabo Verde: $10.7M
3. The Gambia: $11.5M
4. Liberia: $15.8M
5. Timor-Leste: $20.6M
Largest Armed Forces Personnel
1. India: 3,031,000
2. China: 2,695,000
3. Russia: 1,454,000
4. United States: 1,359,000
5. Pakistan: 936,000
Smallest Armed Forces Personnel
1. Haiti: 0
2. Seychelles: 0
3. The Gambia: 1,000
4. Cabo Verde: 1,000
5. Luxembourg: 2,000
While the U.S. spends nearly double on its military as the next highest country, there are still several countries that spend billions on their militaries. 71 of the 146 countries in this dataset spent over $1 billion on their militaries in 2018. This isn’t limited to countries with small militaries either. Norway’s armed personnel, for example, totals 23,000. Yet, Norway spent over $7 billion on its military last year.
While countries like the U.S. plan to decrease military spending going forward, it’s clear that defense is a top priority for many countries around the world.
Sources: World Bank, Wikipedia and Bing