Military strength is graded here using the Global Firepower index, a composite score across more than sixty factors — active personnel, aircraft, naval tonnage, defense budget, geography, logistics, manpower available. A lower PwrIndx is stronger; the United States, Russia, and China lead the world, followed by India and South Korea.

Why some rankings are counter-intuitive

France outranks the UK on the index largely because of its independent nuclear arsenal and indigenous defense industry. Egypt outranks Israel on raw firepower but Israel's qualitative edge is what matters in practice — the index doesn't fully capture intelligence, tech, or doctrine. Iceland scores at the bottom: it has no standing military at all.