military parade. Roughly 12,000 troops marched through Tiananmen Square, a small fraction

of China’s total military manpower. Military size often correlates with global influence,

so we wanted to know: what are the world’s biggest militaries?

Well, military strength can be measured in a number of different ways. In terms of total

troop levels, China takes the lead, with roughly 3 million armed forces personnel. That’s

about twice as many as the United States. This figure includes paramilitary forces who

may serve to replace or support the military when necessary. However it does not include

reserve troops, In fact, accounting for reserve

forces, would boost North Korea to five million troops. This is due to North Korea’s mandatory conscription

forcing all citizens to serve for a period of ten years.

One can also measure military power through total military expenditure. You might have

a 5-million-strong army, but a small fleet of expensive aircraft would have little trouble

winning a war of attrition. In this regard, the United States is by far the most powerful

army in the world. With a budget of roughly 600 billion dollars, the US spends more on

its military than the next seven countries combined. China, the next biggest spender,

has a military budget of about 130 billion. The United State’s massive military budget also means

that it has more military hardware than any other country, including weapons and vehicles.

But the dawn of the atomic age radically changed the rules of warfare. Just like a large army

can’t stand against superior equipment, a well funded military doesn’t have much

of a chance against a nuclear weapon. And while it doesn’t really matter how many

nukes a country has, it is still telling when a country amasses a huge number of them. Only

9 countries officially hold nukes, of which there are more than 15,000 worldwide. 98%

of them are owned by only two countries. As of 2015, Russia holds about 7,500 nuclear

weapons, however many of them are in need of updates, and date back to the Cold War.

The United States holds about 7,200 nukes, and spends more money on them than the other

8 countries combined. Additionally, the US’s nukes are spread around the world, hosted

in a number of allied countries, and ready to retaliate faster than any belligerent nation.

Although the criteria for what constitutes the most powerful military can vary, there

is little debate that the militaries of China, Russia, and the United States are considered

the most powerful in the world. And although tensions have been high between these superpowers,

especially regards to Russia and the US, some experts say that having massive militaries

is safer. Countries are less likely to fight enormous military campaigns, instead preferring

proxy wars, or diplomacy. Others say that large militaries lead to more conflict,

because so much of the economy and workforce are dependent on continued military funding.

This situation is known as the military-industrial-complex, and is a controversial reality of massively

militarized countries. To learn more about the US’s military relationship, check out

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