Most powerful armies in the world: Davids, Goliaths, some surprises, Portugal in 39th

Global Firepower has released the 2025 edition of its PowerIndex, an index that assesses the military power of 145 countries around the world. Unsurprisingly, the list is headed by the USA, Russia and China, but there are small countries that unexpectedly enter the Top 20 — and some “paper tigers”.

The 2025 edition of , a ranking that classifies the military strength of countries around the world, places , with an index of 0.6856, in 39th positionin a list of 145 countries, headed by USA (0,0744).

Russia and Chinaboth with an index of 0.078, share the second position on the PowerIndex this year. The fourth most powerful country in the world, according to Global Firepower (GFP), is Indiawith an index of 0.1184, followed by South Korea (0,1656).

Naturally, no country has a perfect ranking of 0.0000, and the index does not include countries like Iceland and Costa Ricawho chose not to even have armed forces.

The GFP classification is based on more than 60 distinct factorsincluding the quantity and quality of military unitsdefense budgets, logistics capacity, geography, and availability of natural resources such as oil and coal, essential for sustaining significant military operations.

The assessment focuses exclusively non-conventional military powercomparing factors such as staff, equipment, financial resources and access to strategic materials, without taking into account nuclear capabilities — which, officially, only 9 countries in the world recognize they have.

The model created by GFP allows technologically advanced countriesbut smaller, can compete with larger nations and less developed, through its own formula which applies bonuses and penalties to assess the real military power of a nation.

While it is no surprise that the index is topped by the planet’s three military superpowers, there are countries that unexpectedly appear at the top of the list, and some others that are, as Mao Sedong said, just zhilaohu: “paper tigers” that appear strong but are ultimately weak or harmless.

There are long-time enemies who have apparently equivalent military powerbut also countries that are true Davids versus Goliath.

There is only 3 European countries in the top 10 positions: United Kingdom (5th position, with an index of 0.1785), France (7th, 0.1878) e Italy (10th, 0.2164). And yet the Türkiyewhich has one foot in Europe: 9th position, 0.1902. THE Japanwith an index of 0.1839, completes the TOP 10 of the index.

A first surprise is North Korea’s position: despite its nuclear power, it is only in 34th positionwith an index of 0.6016. Southeast Asia is a powder keg, and it’s no surprise that China, South Korea and Japan top the list; but North Korea, apparently, It’s a paper tiger.

Among the fierce enemies that are equivalent in military power there are cases of Israel and Iranin 15th and 16th positions, but with slightly different indices: 0.2661 and 0.3048 respectively.

A Ukraine, in 20th position (0.3755) is an example of David vs Goliath: has been at war for more than three years against Russia, which shares 2nd place with China. The latter is the Goliath of Taiwan, listed in 22nd position (0,3988).

Another zone in latent conflict is Hindustan, where India, the fourth most powerful country in the world, disputes Kashmir with Pakistan, 12th on the listwith an index of 0.2513. But as it turned out recently, every now and then it happens that David to Goliath…

Naturally, countries poorly positioned on the PowerIndex are not always exactly defenseless; its military capacity has, in many cases, to be assessed in light of military or political alliances of which they are part.

To be able to evaluate this factor, Global Firepower has, among other features, , which allows us to compare the aggregate military power of two alliances with up to 7 countries each.

Despite its comprehensive reach, the GFP index has been criticized by defense experts, who warn of its limited valuein particular due to the confidential nature of military operations and the complexity of modern warfare, notes .

Still, this annual ranking offers an interesting, though not definitive, perspective on How countries compare in terms of conventional military power.