Top 20 Armies in the World

[Antonius Maximus]

1 China 2,250,000
2 USA 1,625,852
3 India 1,325,000
4 DPRK 1,075,000
5 Russia 960,000
6 ROK 685,000
7 Pakistan 620,000
8 Iran 540,000
9 UK 515,000
10 Turkey 515,000
11 Myanmar 490,000
12 Vietnam 485,000
13 Egypt 450,000
14 Syria 320,000
15 Thailand 315,000
16 Ukraine 295,000
17 Taiwan 290,000
18 Brazil 285,000
19 Germany 284,000
20 France 259,000

Found this information on this site. Was a bit surprised at some of the figures just wondering if the wider community has any comments on this. My own would be that I didn't realise the UK had such a big army especially when compared to France.

** Edit **
Especially as the funding ranks up as follows:

1. United States $466.0 billion FY04 actual [see Note 8]
2. China $65 billion 2004 [see Note 1]
3. Russia $50 billion [see Note 6]
4. France $46.5 billion 2000
5. Japan $44.7 billion FY05
6. Germany $38.8 billion 2002
7. United Kingdom $31.7 billion 2002
8. Italy $20.2 billion 2002
9. Saudi Arabia $18.3 billion FY00
10. Korea, South $16.18 billion FY04
11. Brazil $13.408 billion FY99
12. India $12,079.7 million FY01
13. Iran $9.7 billion FY00
14. Australia $9.3 billion FY01/02 est.
15. Israel $8.97 billion FY02
16. Spain $8.6 billion 2002
17. Taiwan $8,041.2 million FY01
18. Turkey $8.1 billion 2002 est.
19. Canada $7,860.5 million FY01/02
20. Netherlands $6.5 billion FY00/01 est.
Source

[Spetsnaz]

DPRK

Sorry,but what does this stands for?

[Tiwaz]

Magic words... Active duty uniformed.

The actual armies may have manpower far greater but mainly in form of reserves you can call to duty when required.

[Tiwaz]

Originally posted by Spetsnaz@May 13 2005, 09:50 AM
Sorry,but what does this stands for?

DPRK = Democratic People's Republic of Korea or something like that. North Korea.

[Antonius Maximus]

Yeah but the active soldiers would in theory be the ones ready for immediate deployment / duty.

[Dutchpower]

meh only 20th

[DEMETRIOUS II]

Originally posted by Antonius Maximus@May 13 2005, 08:47 AM
. My own would be that I didn't realise the UK had such a big army especially when compared to France.

The UK needs a bigger army to fight in USA's dirty wars. France doesn't as they have EU's backup.

[Xiaodun]

What does numbers of troops matter?

France has taken to reducing their number of troops to a quarter of a million. But they can take on countries like Egypt and Turkey with their nukes.

The days where number of soldiers equaled military might are far gone

[Antonius Maximus]

But military funding is surely a very telling figure ... well possibly. And nukes are of limited use when two countries have them as they would each in theory deter the other from using them. Any one know which countries actually have nukes? By the way I'm not some kind of military junky (though i do play Rome so ..?) but thought these figures were of some interest.

[Tiwaz]

Originally posted by Antonius Maximus@May 13 2005, 09:55 AM
Yeah but the active soldiers would in theory be the ones ready for immediate deployment / duty.

Only if the war is imminent. And it really never is.

There is always first tensionbuilding and only after some preparations there will be actual invasion. Sometimes nations have managed to surprise the enemy with their swift attack but usually it is not because the warning signs weren't there but because they were ignored.

This gives plenty of time to mobilise the reserves.
That is of course true in defence for which purpose reservist armies are built for. They have numbers and homefield advantage. Aggressive nations, and in general ones where there is no perceived threat to their nation but desire to interfere in another nations, find professional armies more useful since they can be more easily deployed. Even for moral reasons since reservists might have few things against getting sent to some hellhole to die.

[Xiaodun]

Originally posted by Antonius Maximus@May 13 2005, 10:04 AM
But military funding is surely a very telling figure ... well possibly. And nukes are of limited use when two countries have them as they would each in theory deter the other from using them. Any one know which countries actually have nukes? By the way I'm not some kind of military junky (though i do play Rome so ..?) but thought these figures were of some interest.

Japan has the 4th largest military funding in the world and we dont even have a military. And what we do have isnt enough to fight any decent military. Numbers are deceptive.

As for countries with nukes, there are of course the guys on the security council, America, China, France, Britain, and Russia, as well as the countries that arent supposed to, but do have nukes, India, Pakistan, and the DPRK, and countries that might have nukes, Iran, Iraq (before the war), Isreal, etc.

[Tiwaz]

Japan has their defence forces which is just fancy way to say army. So Japan definitely has a military and it's not too weak either.

Though if I was japanese I would support getting rid of US bases and expanding japanese army.

[Hoppah]

Never thought that the Netherlands are on the 20th place with funding. A small country with a small army.

funny pic:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/wor...04414142357.jpg

LOL

[Rutilius Rufus]

Numbers mean nothing, exept mabey a phycilogical effect. Funding on the other thing is everything, if you have no money you cant afford to replace parts, fuel, arms, vehicles, ect.

[Xiaodun]

Originally posted by Tiwaz@May 13 2005, 10:25 AM
Japan has their defence forces which is just fancy way to say army. So Japan definitely has a military and it's not too weak either.

Though if I was japanese I would support getting rid of US bases and expanding japanese army.

A quarter of a million men, who arent allowed to fight unless in the strictest meaning of selfdefence, and have no nukes is barely an army.

Most Japanese people support reducing American bases and getting the Americans out of Okinawa. Wheter it be for political reasons (they hate America), honor (we dont want to rely on mercinaries to protect our ancient homeland), or simply because we dont want Americans to drop more helicopters on our cities. There are very few people however, that want to increase the current force.

[37mm]

These pages offer another analysis...

http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomake...es/armies/e.asp
http://www.strategypage.com/fyeo/howtomake...s/armies/an.asp

[ajimenez3]

Originally posted by deathdoom56+May 13 2005, 10:37 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td> (deathdoom56 @ May 13 2005, 10:37 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Tiwaz@May 13 2005, 10:25 AM
Japan has their defence forces which is just fancy way to say army. So Japan definitely has a military and it&#39;s not too weak either.

Though if I was japanese I would support getting rid of US bases and expanding japanese army.

A quarter of a million men, who arent allowed to fight unless in the strictest meaning of selfdefence, and have no nukes is barely an army.

Most Japanese people support reducing American bases and getting the Americans out of Okinawa. Wheter it be for political reasons (they hate America), honor (we dont want to rely on mercinaries to protect our ancient homeland), or simply because we dont want Americans to drop more helicopters on our cities. There are very few people however, that want to increase the current force. [/b][/quote]
Hey where in the Japanse Govt. can I apply for my backpay for the mercenary work I was suppose to have rendered for the year I was station in Japan? I sure did not get any extra money and I sure want what is owed me. :lol


Semper Fi

[hormiga]

What is the deal with Japan? 4th in funding but not even on the number of soldiers list?

Regardless of if the Japanese likes or dislike American forces, their presence (at least in the early and middle years of reconstruction) allowed the Japanese to have a very very small defense budget and rebuild their economy into what it is today.

I was under the impression that they still had a small military and didnt spend so much on their military.... wierd I wonder when that changed?

Anyway having a small military isnt a bad thing really

(I lived there for 2 years in the US military, we would occassionally have a japanese subs at our base, but I never saw anything bigger than that)

EDIT: According to the CIA factbook, Japan is spending 1% of their Gross Domestic Product on defense, USA is 3.2%, France is 2.5% and China is probably somewhere between 3-5%.... so maybe that is a little more telling.

[Custor]

UK army only about 90,000 strong. Dont know where they 515,000 from?

Edit - correct figures from the MOD. We don&#39;t do conscription nor national service either so no massive reserves.
Strength of UK Regular Forces (1 April 2000)
Royal Navy Officers Other Ranks
Trained 6,600 31,700
Untrained 1,100 3,500
Army
Trained 12,800 83,700
Untrained 1,100 12,500
Royal Air Force
Trained 9,800 41,200
Untrained 1,200 2,500

[Xiaodun]

Originally posted by hormiga@May 13 2005, 10:52 AM
What is the deal with Japan? 4th in funding but not even on the number of soldiers list?

Regardless of if the Japanese likes or dislike American forces, their presence (at least in the early and middle years of reconstruction) allowed the Japanese to have a very very small defense budget and rebuild their economy into what it is today.

I was under the impression that they still had a small military and didnt spend so much on their military.... wierd I wonder when that changed?

Anyway having a small military isnt a bad thing really

(I lived there for 2 years in the US military, we would occassionally have a japanese subs at our base, but I never saw anything bigger than that)

We still have a small army, its mostly stabilized around 240-260 thousand men. We have a pretty moderate navy and airforce so we have to use money on that. The actuall percentage of the GDP used on military funds is perhapes the smallest in the world. But we just make so much money :cool We dont want to increase our military because as you said, its a waste of money and life to do war.

Sorry ajimenez3, you know politics. The governments get paid. The actual grunts however, get nothing but a small paycheck, inadequet pension, and shot at by enemies.