Top 20 Strongest Militaries In The World. Number 5 Will Surprise You.

10/23/2017

This list has been updated for 2016, and the top 5 may come as a bit of a surprise! The world’s strongest military forces are based on the number of active personnel, tanks, attack helicopters, air crafts, aircraft carriers, and submarines they have.

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20) Canada

Budget: $15.7 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 92,000

Tanks: 181

Total aircraft: 420

Submarines: 4

Canada kicks off the list due to the country's small number of active personnel, its limited supply of aircraft carriers and attack helicopters, and its lack of tanks and submarines. However, Canada has still taken part in US operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, and it is also a member of the NATO military alliance.

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19) Indonesia

Budget: $6.9 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 476,000

Tanks: 468

Total aircraft: 405

Submarines: 2

Even though Indonesia boasts a high number of active personnel and tanks, it suffers from a lack of carriers and aircraft, as well as a minute number of submarines.

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18) Germany

Budget: $40.2 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 179,046

Tanks: 408

Total aircraft: 663

Submarines: 4

It may come as a surprise that Germany ended up low on the list. Germany lacks an aircraft carrier and has relatively few submarines (4 to be exact), but to be fair, it does have a high number of attack helicopters.

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17) Poland

Budget: $9.4 billion

Active frontline personnel: 120,000

Tanks: 1,009

Total aircraft: 467

Submarines: 5

Poland edges out Germany thanks to its large number of tanks and better submarine fleet. Poland has 5 submarines and 1,009 tanks.

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16) Thailand

Budget: $5.39 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 306,000

Tanks: 722

Total aircraft: 573

Submarines: 0

Although Thailand has 0 submarines, it boasts a large number of active personnel, 722 tanks, and has an aircraft carrier (but no aircraft fleet).

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15) Australia

Budget: $26.1 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 58,000

Tanks: 59

Total aircraft: 408

Submarines: 6

The Australian military is pretty small in comparison with other countries, but what it lacks in active personnel and tanks, it makes up for in attack helicopters and submarines.

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14) Israel

Budget: $17 billion

Active frontline personnel: 160,000

Tanks: 4,170

Total aircraft: 684

Submarines: 5

Although Israel has a small military, with mandatory military service a large percentage of the Israeli population is militarily ready. It’s worth mentioning that Israel has advanced military advantages such as high-tech armed drones, and advanced fighter jets.

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13) Taiwan

Budget: $10.7 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 290,000

Tanks: 2,005

Total aircraft: 804

Submarines: 4

After constantly being under threat by China’s plans to invade, Taiwan was always on top of its game. This might explain why Taiwan has the highest number of attack helicopters.

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12) Egypt

Budget: $4.4 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 468,500

Tanks: 4,624

Total aircraft: 1,107

Submarines: 4

The Egyptian military is the oldest and largest in the Middle East, and has the fifth largest fleet of tanks in the world. It has over 1,000 M1A1 Abrams tanks, many of which sit in storage and have never been used.

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11) Pakistan

udget: $7 billion

Active frontline personnel: 617,000

Tanks: 2,924

Total aircraft: 914

Submarines: 8

Regarding active personnel, The Pakistani military is one of the largest forces in the world. Some even argue that Pakistan is building nuclear weapons at such a pace that within the next 10 years it might have the world’s third largest nuclear arsenal.

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10) Turkey

Budget: $18.2 billion

Active frontline personnel: 410,500

Tanks: 3,778

Total aircraft: 1,020

Submarines: 13

As one of the largest armed forces in the eastern Mediterranean, and with such a large tank fleet, Turkey ranked 10 on the list.

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9) United Kingdom

Budget: $60.5 billion

Active Frontline Personnel: 146,980

Tanks: 407

Total aircraft: 936

Submarines: 10

Although the UK is planning to reduce the size of its armed forces by 20% between 2010 and 2018, it won’t take away from its power, or influence. The Royal Navy is planning to put the HMS Queen Elizabeth (an aircraft carrier) into service by 2020.

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8) Italy

Budget: $34 billion

Active frontline personnel: 320,000

Tanks: 586

Total aircraft: 760

Submarines: 6

Italy's possession of two aircraft carriers, making it eighth on the list. Also, submarine and attack helicopter fleets, drastically boosted Italy's ranking.

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7) South Korea

Budget: $62.3 billion

Active frontline personnel: 624,465

Tanks: 2,381

Total aircraft: 1,412

Submarines: 13

South Korea doesn’t have much choice but to have a large and capable military in the face of potential North Korean aggression.

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6) France

Budget: $62.3 billion

Active frontline personnel: 202,761

Tanks: 423

Total aircraft: 1,264

Submarines: 10

The French army is quite small in size, but highly trained and professional. France engages in military deployments in Africa to fight extremism and stabilize governments.

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5) India

Budget: $50 billion

Active frontline personnel: 1,325,000

Tanks: 6,464

Total aircraft: 1,905

Submarines: 15

India is one of the largest active powers on the planet. It’s worth mentioning that India has access to nuclear weapons.

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4) Japan

Budget: $41.6 billion

Active frontline personnel: 247,173

Tanks: 678

Total aircraft: 1,613

Submarines: 16

Japan has the fourth largest submarine on the list here and has the fourth largest attack helicopter.

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3) China

Budget: $216 billion

Active frontline personnel: 2,333,000

Tanks: 9,150

Total aircraft: 2,860

Submarines: 67

China has the worlds' largest army, the second largest tank fleet behind Russia, and the second largest submarine fleet behind the US. Also, it has made a rapid investment in its military modernization program, now potentially developing some game-changing military technologies such as ballistic missiles, and fifth generation aircraft.

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2) Russia

Budget: $84.5 billion

Active frontline personnel: 766,055

Tanks: 15,398

Total aircraft: 3,429

Submarines: 55

There is no doubt Russia has the strongest military in the world. Since 2008, the Kremlin’s military spending has increased by practically a third, and is expected to grow another 44% in the next 3 years.

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1) United States

Budget: $601 billion

Active frontline personnel: 1,400,000

Tanks: 8,848

Total aircraft: 13,892

Submarines: 72

Top on the list is the United States! The United States spends $601 billion, which is more than what the next six highest-spending countries spend combined.

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Top 20 Strongest Militaries In The World. Number 5 Will Surprise You.

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20) Canada

19) Indonesia

18) Germany

17) Poland

16) Thailand

15) Australia

14) Israel

13) Taiwan

12) Egypt

11) Pakistan

10) Turkey

9) United Kingdom

8) Italy

7) South Korea

6) France

5) India

4) Japan

3) China

2) Russia

1) United States