In 2022, China had the largest armed forces in the world by active duty military personnel, with about 2 million active soldiers. India, the United States, North Korea, and Russia rounded out the top five largest armies respectively, each with over one million active military personnel.
Armed Forces
The United States in comparison, has significantly less - 1.4 million - but when assessing the overall power of the world's military forces, the U.S. comes out on top, ahead of Russia and China in second and third, respectively.
The star-spangled banner marks the strongest military power in the world. Despite the United States' crushing defeat in Afghanistan, its armed forces have an imposing presence across the world. With military bases in many parts of the world, the US armed forces remain the most powerful of any on the globe.
1- United States. Located in North America, the United States is considered to be the most powerful country in the world. It consists of 50 states, and its economic and military power is unmatched.
China had in 2020-21 surpassed the United States becoming the wealthiest nation in the world, according to a report released by McKinsey & Co. The report was published after examining the national balance sheets of ten countries having over 60% of the global income.
The most dangerous countries to visit in 2022 are Afghanistan, Central African Republic, Iraq, Libya, Mali, Somalia, South Sudan, Syria and Yemen according to the latest Travel Risk Map, an interactive tool produced by security specialists at International SOS.
And a significant level of their spending does not appear "on the public books." Overall, in terms of resources, the U.S. has an advantage, but it is not as overwhelming as it appears. In terms of simple numbers of warships, China is already leading the U.S., roughly 350 to 300, in combat vessels.
It is noteworthy that the world's three most populous countries also have the three largest standing armies, and in the same order. China's massive force is the largest, followed by India and the United States.
Nine countries possess nuclear weapons: the United States, Russia, France, China, the United Kingdom, Pakistan, India, Israel, and North Korea. In total, the global nuclear stockpile is close to 13,000 weapons.
The US dominates the air with far more bases, fighter jets and bombers than Russia but Russia is superior on the ground with more tanks, artillery and land vehicles. At sea, the countries are more evenly matched, but here the US has the edge with more destroyers, submarines and aircraft carriers.
India Partitioned, Princely States & Movement of Refugees
The Indian Military has fought in all four wars of the nation, three against Pakistan and one against the People's Republic of China. They also fought in the border war against Pakistan, better known as the Kargil war in 1999.
Among the Soviet Union's 15 republics, Russia withstood the highest number of casualties, with 6,750,000 military deaths and 7,200,000 civilian deaths.
The United States
The U.S. is the world's most dominant military and economic power, with a military budget of US$778 billion for 2020 and a Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of US$20.9 trillion.
China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States are often referred to as great powers by academics due to "their political and economic dominance of the global arena". These five nations are the only states to have permanent seats with veto power on the UN Security Council.
Throughout most of the Soviet-era, Russia was one of the world's two superpowers. However, after the dissolution of the Soviet Union, it lost its superpower status, and recently has been suggested as a potential candidate for resuming superpower status in the 21st century.