A Ranking Of The 20 Most Powerful Militaries In The World
9 years ago

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The United States military runs the show. Just ask King George, Bin Laden, Germany (twice), Japan, Saddam Hussein, and anyone else we’ve rolled through. They can testify to the strength of the American military. But how does the rest of the world stack up?

Credit Suisse put together a publication that included a ranking of the world’s most powerful militaries. The factors that went into the score included: number of active personnel (5% of total score), tanks (10%), attack helicopters (15%), aircraft (20%), aircraft carriers (25%), and submarines (25%). Here are the results:

20. Canada 0.10
19. Indonesia – 0.12
18. Germany – 0.19
17. Poland – 0.23
16. Thailand – 0.28
15. Australia – 0.30
14. Israel – 0.32
13. Taiwan – 0.32
12. Egypt – 0.34
11. Pakistan – 0.41
10. Turkey – 0.47
9. United Kingdom – 0.50
8. Italy – 0.52
7. South Korea – 0.52
6. France – 0.61
5. India – 0.69
4. Japan – 0.72
3. China – 0.79
2. Russia – 0.80
1. United States – 0.94

In addition to being an overwhelming number one seed, the United States’ $600B+ military budget is more than the next nine countries combined. Bring it on, world.

[via Credit Suisse]

  4. Cward

    This puts way to much emphasis on submarines(25%) and ACs(25%). Why the hell is active personnel only 5% and subs 25%. America is still winning in most cases but active personnel should easily have 30%.

    9 years ago at 1:09 pm
    1. Pro Box Eater

      You fully understand the tactical capability of submarines and our quantity of operational subs compared to everyone else in the world? I love the troops but subs haul massive payloads and nukes that could make Kim in North Koreas asshole look like he ate a bathtub full of chili and chased it with a bowl of ghost peppers.

      9 years ago at 3:25 pm
  5. ZeteNJ

    Also have to consider that if and other country even managed to invade, they’d need to contend with our about tens of millions of legal gun owners.

    9 years ago at 1:18 pm
  7. ChristianPKP

    And yet nobody again asks an Intelligence Officer. Stupid rack and stack. No mention of Cyber (bc it’s largely Secret/Top Secret), Signals Capabilities, Satellite networks, Quality of educated leadership…and probably most importantly ability to remove key leadership and critical assets from the battlespace. Give me a Company of Special Operations Forces and keep your tanks. Our radar is tits, our stealth tech is sick, and our Navy alone can apply effects nearly anywhere in the world like ricky tick.

    9 years ago at 9:35 pm
  8. Fake Enthuisasm

    I noticed there’s no category for “ability to deploy forces and support staff”, not that it would do much but boost the margin between NATO + friends + Russia and the other countries but having a large army doesn’t mean shit if they can’t make it to the battlefield. Just saying, I would love to see a Pakistani or Egyptian strike force try to cross the Atlantic.

    9 years ago at 5:11 am