The 35 Most Powerful Militaries In The World {LARGE IMAGE}

[xchrom]

http://www.businessinsider.com/35-most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-2014-7



***SNIP

Here are key findings from the index:
America's Investment In Being The World's Police Force
The United States clearly leads the world in military spending at more than $600 billion. China is the closest nation to follow the US at nearly $130 billion — which is still less than a third of America's overall spending.

***SNIP

The Role Of Aircraft Carriers
Aircraft carriers contribute greatly to a country's overall military strength. These massive vessels allow nations to project their force far beyond their borders and across the entire face of the globe by functioning as essentially a mobile naval and air force base. Aircraft carriers can also carry drones, significantly changing the global surveillance game.



Read more: http://www.businessinsider.com/35-most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-2014-7#ixzz379WvR1Fb

[Bosonic]

1. Pakistan has nuclear weapons

[Warren Stupidity]

2. The chart lists Pakistan with 0 nukes - that is wrong.

Pakistan is thought to have somewhere around 100 nukes - i.e parity with India.

[livetohike]

3. Something is wrong with the manpower numbers. One in three Americans are in the military? N/t

[Spider Jerusalem]

4. Manpower is total available of military age

it's the theoretical maximum that could be committed to an all-out war like WWII.

[livetohike]

5. Thanks!

[Scuba]

6. I don't think sunken boats are supposed to count as submarines. N. Korea with 78?

BTW, didja notice that all the big players are our allies? Maybe we could knock just a tad off our military budget, eh?

[xchrom]

7. that seems sensible...and obvious

so they won't do it.

[Lurks Often]

8. And like any chart, it shows what the writer wants

Yes, we spend more then the Russians or Chinese, but we also pay our soldiers and the people making the equipment a hell of a lot more then they do.

10 carriers looks impressive, but in general at any given time only 3 or 4 are actually deployed and that includes the carrier we have based in Japan.

The numbers for tanks & aircraft appears high, I am guessing that includes equipment in storage

[davidpdx]

9. I always have strong doubts about charts like this, even when they come from a reputable source

If you go to the actual source it says these are estimates in some cases and some numbers came from CIA Factbook and Wikipedia. Not the best of sources.

Now I have been called nitpicky for bringing up inaccuracies in these graphs, but they are what they are.

South Korean military 25.6 million (according to the chart above)

These are numbers pulled DIRECTLY from Korean Statistical Information Service and took me a few minutes to compile (feel free to check anyone, the information is in English).

Assuming the age for serving for a male were 20-59 the available number of troops would be 14.72 (almost 11 million off)

Assuming the age for service for a males was 20-64 the available number of troops would be 15.78 (still almost a full 10 million off)

I highly doubt they'd send people over 60 though.

[marmar]

10. k/r

War is a racket.