Top Ten Largest and Strongest Armies in the World 2014

10. Egypt

The Egyptian army with 468,500 military personnel works for the safety of the country from internal and external enemies. Its military personnel are good and well trained and the army has given training to several nations like Arab and African states. Its armaments came from all around the globe and it has been recently innovating with British, American and French equipment. 

9. Iran

Iran is a Muslim country with abundance of natural resources and was established in 1925. Its army has long and varied history and is comprises of more than 523,000 army personnel. Its army officers got training in European and American military academies, most of its weapons came from the United States of America, which were its friend at that time but in 1979, after the Islamic Revolution, its relations with United States became tensed. It has quarrelsome relations with its neighbors and its army has grown to become one of the most powerful militaries of the Middle East.

 8. Pakistan

The Pakistan armed forces were established after achieving freedom from British Empire in 1947 and are country’s best organized institution. It has been playing a fundamental role in keeping the state together and maintaining a feeling of nationhood since the formation of Pakistan. It has close military terms with China including research cooperation and developmental programs for enhancing the military system, China is also the biggest supplier of military weapons to Pakistan. Its army is very alert regarding its defense system due to antagonistic relationships with its neighboring countries, especially India.

Pakistan is the world’s second largest Muslim country and its army has over 617,000 courageous and brave military personnel serving the nation and work closely with two world’s largest armies including China and United States for maintaining the security at borders and developing new technologies.

7. Turkey

The military forces of Turkey are termed as Turkish Armed Forces whose overall head is President of Turkey. Turkey won the independence war in 1992 and remained neutral till the closure of World War II. On 18th February, after joining NATO, it started an extensive modernization plans for its Armed Forces including new technologies and advanced weapons. The Turkish military sent troops to battle in Korea where they played important roles at some points. With 664,060 soldiers, this country is doing a great expenditure on its military powers in order to make it one of the largest fighting forces in all over the world. 

 

6. South Korea

The South Korean army is much smaller as compared to the North Korean and was founded in 1948 when there was separation of the country in two different states. Its armed forces are known as the Republic of Korea Armed forces or ROK Armed Forces. This country has received long time assistance from the United States of America, however its armed forces are undergoing speedy innovation and would be able to be powerful enough to control various defense issues itself by December 2015. The South Korean army comprises of more than 687,000 military personnel. 

 

5. Russian Federation

The military services of Russia were established on 7th May, 1992 and it is the world’s second largest country according to its nuclear armaments. It has almost 1,040,000 active military members and has more than 2 million reserve military members. Its military expenditures are approximately $72 billion which are going to be increased in 2014.It is one of the highly experienced armies in the world which requires its residents of age from 18 to 27 years, to obtain army education or to be engaged in service. 

 

4. North Korea

The armed forces of North Korea are known as the People’s Army or the Korean People’s Army and was established in 1930. It one of the world’s largest military organization with a man power of 1,106,000 soldiers. This country is also proud of having the world’s biggest Special Forces and submarine fleet. The army of this country stands face to face against the United States and South Korea along the deactivated zone. It is a small country that hardly can afford this huge size military but it chooses to spend one quarter of its financial resources on it that are approximately equal to $10 billion. It has also a reserve military force of over 8 million personnel which is the largest in the world. 

3. India

This is the world’s second largest populated country and possesses the third largest army having more than 1,325,000 soldiers that are serving the nation. It is the biggest importer of military weapons in the world with Israel, Russia and to some extent United States and France and for this its expenditures are equivalent to nine percent of the imports of the world. It has a good relationship with Russia that also helped in developing its military aircrafts. This country has also 2.1 million reserve military personnel that are almost twice of the active personnel. It needs a continuous level of alertness because of its border tensions with China and conflict issues with Pakistan. Since 1974, this country has been in possession of nuclear armaments.

2. United States of America

The second largest army in this world is of United States of America with a man power of more than 1,458,219 individuals. It draws its armed forces from a collection of paid volunteers. It is considered as one of the most trained armies in the world with the most active nuclear armaments as compared to the world’s other nuclear powers. The military expenditures are more than half a trillion every year with an additional expenditure of $88.5 billion for its overseas emergency actions and these expenditures are similar to almost 39 percent of the total military expenditures in the world. 

1. China

China is the largest country according to the size of the population but it is also the country having largest army in the world with military size of more than 2,285,000 soldiers. The military of China is also known as the People’s Liberation Army and is one of the strongest armies in the world. The military services are mandatory for Chinese men when they reach at the age of 18 years, however a draft is never enforced due to a large number of volunteers.