Indiavs South Korea
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, India (#4) holds a narrow edge over South Korea (#5).
- India has nuclear weapons; South Korea has none.
- India has aircraft carriers; South Korea has none.
- India has 3.2× as many active troops.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyIndia leads 3 of 4
- Land forcesSouth Korea leads 3 of 5
- Air powerIndia leads 5 of 7
- Naval forcesEven, 3–3
- Nuclear weaponsIndia leads 2 of 2
Leads count raw numbers in each category. Larger is not always stronger: a modern fleet can beat a bigger, older one.
People and money
Who can be put in uniform, and how much is spent keeping them there.
$92.1B
Military spending
$47.8B1.43M
Active personnel
450K1M
Reserves
3.1M2.53M
Paramilitary
120KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (India: 2.3% of GDP; South Korea: 2.6% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
3,913
Tanks
1,831164K
Armored vehicles
117K100
Self-propelled artillery
2,7805,640
Towed artillery
5,800300
Rocket artillery
525Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
2,183
Total aircraft
1,540476
Fighters
242124
Attack aircraft
98594
Helicopters
82779
Attack helicopters
1136
Tankers
4277
Transports
40Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
343
Total fleet
2152
Aircraft carriers
00
Helicopter carriers
218
Submarines
2213
Destroyers
1418
Frigates
1821
Corvettes
3Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
190
Warheads
012
Deployed warheads
0Compare other countries
Related matchups
- IndiavsPakistan
- ChinavsIndia
- North KoreavsSouth Korea
- JapanvsSouth Korea
- IndiavsRussia
- United StatesvsIndia
- BrazilvsIndia
Profiles: India and South Korea. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.