Public sentiment around the Global Military Rankings 2025 is a complex mix of national pride, skepticism towards the accuracy of the rankings, and concerns about military preparedness. Users express strong pride in their countries, particularly India and Bangladesh, while questioning the validity and implications of the rankings, especially regarding operational capabilities and modernization needs. There's also a notable commentary on historical military conflicts that informs current perceptions.

India

Bangladesh

Pakistan

China

This is actually one of those times when PPP (purchasing power parity) is a better way to compare apples to apples. Because labor and materials are a lot cheaper in some countries (like China and Russia) their military spending looks a lot smaller in nominal terms (what the chart uses) compared with what the dollars spent actually get these countries in practice.

When adjusted for PPP, Chinese spending makes a lot more sense at about [60% of US spending](https://cepr.org/voxeu/columns/chinas-military-rise-comparative-military-spending-china-and-us) rather than 25%, and [Russia at about 40%](https://militaryppp.com/2025/05/12/real-military-spending-2024-military-ppp/) rather than 15%. 

Keep in mind, this adjustment goes a long way to explaining how Russia, despite having an economy smaller than *Texas* in nominal terms, has been able to keep up a high intensity war in Ukraine for 3.5 years on what looks like a shoestring budget on paper. Same thing with China, they're in the middle of a decades-long modernization program that is vastly improving the quality of their airforce, the size and quality of their navy, building out the 3rd largest and most advanced nuclear program on the planet, modernizing their army, and developing cutting edge drones, all while, on paper at least, spending a tiny fraction of what the US does.

To be honest there are a lot of other issues with these kinds of comparisons though, such as no uniform definition for what is considered military spending (the US counts spending on healthcare for servicemen towards their total spend, many countries don't, US includes spending on National Guard, countries like China and Russia consider that spending on domestic police instead). Plus I think looking at spending as a percentage of total GDP is another good way of comparing as it gives a better sense of how much of a country's entire economy is geared towards war, with US spending actually near or at the lowest it's been since WWII.

jrex035

Probably can go a lot further for some countries with cheaper currencies  if this is calculated in USD

allahakbau

The U.S. military budget isn’t just the largest, it’s miles ahead! Larger than the next 10 countries combined.

vladgrinch

tf is france doing, there's no way their military budget is half of the UKs when they have similar economies and responsibilities

Beneficial-Beat-947

Good example of how to lie with statistics. 

Thing more expensive in country where thing more expensive isn’t a revelation. 

Like China should be roughly double or triple if you account for ppp.

But then the two rockets wouldn’t look very equal anymore.

namewithanumber

The US also subsidizes the defense of 9 of the listed countries. If they couldn’t rely on the American security system their expenses would be much higher.

Chucksfunhouse

&gt;The hidden hand of the market will never work without a hidden fist - McDonald’s cannot flourish without McDonnell Douglas, the builder of the F-15. And the hidden fist that keeps the world safe for Silicon Valley’s technologies is called the United States Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps.

\- Milton Friedman

OtisDriftwood1978

Percent of GDP is much more useful metric than absolute $ figures. All it means is that the US economy is bigger than other countries.

roma258

More like a misinfo graphic. 


It doesn't account for purchasing power parity.


The numbers aren't necessarily apples to apples comparison with regard to how they're calculated(do they include veterans benefits, coast guard forces, etc)


Any number published by China is not trustworthy.

Upset-Waltz-8952

budget doesn't mean a lot in military strength. If you adjust to PPP, it's not much higher than europe's. And Europe's is not much higher Than russia's. 

For example nato uses 155mm shells and manufacturing one coats 4k usd. In russia it costs less than 1k to manufacture theirs 152mm.

Circusonfire69

Israel having a bigger defense budget than Australia is crazy land proportion wise.

ASharpLife

What a monumental waste. Eisenhower warned about the military industrial complex and the people who get rich off of it.

I don't ever want to hear anyone say we don't have money for things that help people.

renaissanceman71

A lot from the U.S. but our military budget also ranks 5th in our expenditure, social security is 22% followed by Medicare/Net Interest both 14% and then health at 13%

Nearby_Wind7810

AmazingKallie

If you want a truly enlightening graphic. Include debt service payments on national defense compared to military budget. A country has traditionally been at risk when debt service exceeds defense. Of course, that was before nukes.

nomad2284

These stats are always misleading, as salaries are higher in the USA than they are in China or Russia. For example, China’s navy is now larger than the US navy, despite only having a fraction of the budget. 

The accounting is also different when it comes to pensions and healthcare. 

If you adjust for those things, the USA still leads, but the gap is much smaller.

Forte69

It’s so they can protect the land of the free where veterans are living homeless in the streets with untreated PTSD and addiction problems, Congress is always looking for new and creative ways to strip people of medical coverage, medical bills are among the highest in the world, climate initiatives are being gutted, women’s rights are being stripped away, the majority of citizens will never be able to afford a house let alone retire, we have hardly any laws to support new parents, education is constantly being cut, and now free speech is being chipped away.

DameyJames

What do you get for one trillion dollars on military spending while the citizens don't feel safe due to high crime rate?  What do you get for the No.1 health care spending in total as well as per capita - the life expectancy is ranked dead last among developed countries.

ascourgeofgod

US Military spending is apparently 2x larger, in 2022 Official spending: $766bn &amp; Actual spending: $1537bn: [https://monthlyreview.org/articles/actual-u-s-military-spending-reached-1-53-trillion-in-2022-more-than-twice-acknowledged-level-new-estimates-based-on-u-s-national-accounts/](https://monthlyreview.org/articles/actual-u-s-military-spending-reached-1-53-trillion-in-2022-more-than-twice-acknowledged-level-new-estimates-based-on-u-s-national-accounts/)

_CHIFFRE

No_Atmosphere3269

What is the GDP of US? Or %of it towards the Military?

Resident_One_9741

Same could be said for space program spending. The US spent $80 billion on its space programs, while the rest of the world spend less than $50 billion.

TaftIsUnderrated

thegooddoktorjones

This is worrying whether you are American or not.

MissClickMan

now adjust it for purchasing power parity

CptnREDmark

FlyingRedCometChar

ThMogget

telefon198

This is just straight up lies.  If you adjust by purchasing power the US is still ahead, but not nearly as far ahead.

DungeonJailer

It’s to enrich people. Nothing else. A system of funneling tax dollars in to the pockets of people who fund political campaigns.

Freshstocx

Thing to note that due to recent legislation, ICE now has a bigger budget than Russia's military.

jorgepolak

No but its actually the 3 bil a year given to Israel is whats stopping the us from getting universal healthcare...

SorrySweati

Also, it’s worth pointing out that a lot of those numbers return to about 3.4-3.6 percent of their GDP budgets minus china which is about 1.6. The United States just has an enormous GDP so it looks like they are weapons hungry! lol although I’m not saying they arnt! lol

raybamz21

If USA paid 45 USD for 1 Bolt 12 years ago [link](https://share.google/NTkZzacnHEsQAn2dv), imagine how much they paid for it now?

Meth_Mouse

Hmm, I dont like that the top 15 countries have a slightly higher combined budget... can we increase it? We need to make sure they have zero shot ever.

Skeletor_with_Tacos

What irks me is that americans see big number being spent on military and they really, really like it. Which is why its impossible to cut military spending. Even though the US military is incredibly inefficient, getting over charged out of the ass for literally everything they buy, so money spent definitely does not = better military 1:1

LilyLol8

And we still can’t get affordable healthcare. Tax dollars going to waste btw 

Matcha_Bubble_Tea

You should  know that most of USA military budget are spent over priced research

MathematicianGold356

Idk if many realize this but spending more doesn’t equate to better…. China and Russia could compete with us any day but we also spend much more on basic shit than they do as in if the US spends 1000 on something China and Russia are only spending maybe 250 for the exact same thing at most.

Ill-Personality2729

All nuclear states are in this as well



Except for Pakistan

shessols

Should add Israel's budget to the USA since that's where Israel gets its military funding.

condortheboss

Useless list, ofcourse usd gonna make it look skewed for Americans.

$400 billion stretches way further in china than it does in usa.

AdministrationBig839

Really makes one wonder how much of the US budget is grift, congressional pork, and yes, excess profits of defense manufacturers...

ImpossibleDraft7208

Many of these countries rely on America to defend them

CookieCrisp10010

In fairness, we pay our people really well.

MarchogGwyrdd

UK has one third of China's budget and Germany \~40%, why they don't have as much tanks and ships and jets as proportion allows? Like they have a combined total of \~300 fighter jets while China has \~1300 modern 4th gen+ jets.

uniyk

962B for US is on the low estimate, if you consider the fact that Pentagon never passed audit nor will they be subjected to it

Positive-Road3903

But US cost is much high with all the higher labor cost, material cost, shipping cost, regulations, process, supplier IP, serial tracking, certification……… I am wondering if US is moving fast enough.

Electronic-Juice-359

acorcuera

Imagine all this money spent on healthcare, education and social projects... US could have become a first world country!

B_lintu

China is building same/more 5th gen jets and building more ships, missiles annually than US. You needn't spend a trillion if you spend smartly.

straightdge

Half of budget goes to salaries for military personnel

Crash_Savage

How can germany spend that much yet have so little

madladolle

ajtrns

Just think of the amount of good the US could do with even just 1% of that.

PeterNippelstein

Maybe it would have been better if there was a single rocket to get an idea of how big of a share usa is taking.

Substantial-Cap-8900

didn't US outclass sum of all other countries before?

WowSoHuTao

Lee_Ma_NN

So it’ll take a global coalition to take down the US fascist regime?

honcho713

No do it in PPP. China does not buy its stuff outside of China. Same for Russia.

tkitta

there it goes

our free health care, free education and free child care

connector-01

In the chart we see that russia spends three times as much on its military as Ukraine. Since they started in Donetsk City in summer 2014 they advanced some 50 km.

Apparently russia buys expensive useless scrap.

Guilty-Literature312

Shocked UK spends so much compared to our peers

Serious-Ride7220

So France spend only around 50B and being the second largest exporter in the world…

Very effective

anticafard

Delmoroth

America seeing this: “YOU MEAN TO TELL ME THE REST OF THE WORLD COMBINED SPENDS MORE THAN US?!?” 

*increases defense spending to exactly the amount needed to make up the difference plus a billion on top* 

“Ah much better”

mbrogan4

I'm sure most of that budget goes to contractors and armament providers

watcher953

SmokiestApollo1

Japan can’t have an offensive military, and they are outspending France. Wild.

BobLabReeSorJefGre

Meh In PPP terms Russia China and India are quite big than they are actually shown in nominal terms

clashingbarbarian

And to think I GROSSED 9k a year as an E-2 in 1995.

hemibearcuda

How do we know what china spends on their military?

OptiHanSolo

LurksDaily

The US has a 30% larger GDP than China. But it spends quadruple on military. It is not about size of economy alone, its a matter of the US choosing to have a large army to be able to wage their proxy wars and invasions.

ArgvargSWE

Thats a lot of money for the military in the US, but no money for health care, infrastructure or education.

Dorrono

I don't know about other countries, but Israel's military expenditure as a share of GDP was only 8.8 in 2024, and all previous years (2010-2023), it was around 4-5%.

Also, the title should be 2024 budget, not 2024.

[deleted]

Spicey_Cough2019

It is never about how much money is spent but rather how smartly it is spent.

EnergyComfortable263

Just know this, 100B in russia is like 500B in usa

Open-Gur-3189

Imagine if the US just went all out defending Ukraine from Russia. So much buck, so little bang.

BankerOnBitcoin

ChineseMaple

I have just a released a publication on Reddit. This reddit comment is the publication. In this publication I will release the definitive rankings of global air power.  
  
1. me (I believe I can fly)

2. Elon Musk's drone swarm idea

3. a single flying Chinese tank with lasers

4. a CIWS (it can lock onto civilian airliners)

edgygothteen69

I think you are looking for r/NonCredibleDefense

khan9813

So you are telling me that they consider the US Army, which has no fixed wing combat aircraft, a more powerful air service than the USMC with about 300 fighters?

WZNGT

GreatAlmonds

aitorbk

Indian Air Force far too low. Tejas pound for pound best fighter in the world.

jerpear

Oh wait you're serious, let me laugh even harder.

Temstar

What the hell is this organization and where do I get the same stuff they're on

vistandsforwaifu

I wonder if they do this intentionally to get more views ?

Ok-Lead3599

Fun fact: the Air Force has Warrant Officers now!

norm-rose

f33rf1y

DamnQuickMathz

Not so much a guide as just a chart. 
A guide would explain things, like difference between enlisted, officer, warrant officer, or why there are multiple ranks at the same grade.

justheath

What is the difference between an officer and a warrant officer?

Past-Daikon-1699

Longshadowman

Thank you. This explains Star Trek so well

opinionated-dick

Space Force was spun off from Air Force, so I assume they use the same ranks?

Pretty_Sir3117

SafeProper

Whats the different between enlisted, officers, and warrent officers.

DrunkCommunist619

The Global Firepower Index reveals the US retains its status as the top military power, with implications for global security and military strategies.

Global Military Rankings 2025

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