Military Power.net

North Koreavs United Kingdom

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, the United Kingdom (#8) holds a clear lead over North Korea (#31).

  • The United Kingdom has aircraft carriers; North Korea has none.
  • The United Kingdom spends 19× as much on its military.
  • North Korea fields 17× as many tanks.
  1. People and moneyNorth Korea leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesNorth Korea leads 4 of 5
  3. Air powerUnited Kingdom leads 4 of 7
  4. Naval forcesEven, 3–3
  5. Nuclear weaponsUnited Kingdom 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.

$4.8B*
Military spending
$89.0B
1.32M
Active personnel
141K
560K
Reserves
32K
100K
Paramilitary
0

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (United Kingdom: 2.4% of GDP). * SIPRI publishes no figure for this country, so the Global Firepower budget estimate is shown instead.

Land forces

Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.

4,895
Tanks
288
48K
Armored vehicles
94K
1,300
Self-propelled artillery
14
700
Towed artillery
126
1,500
Rocket artillery
43

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

837
Total aircraft
625
341
Fighters
103
114
Attack aircraft
38
205
Helicopters
262
20
Attack helicopters
50
0
Tankers
9
1
Transports
30

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

332
Total fleet
116
0
Aircraft carriers
2
0
Helicopter carriers
0
24
Submarines
10
2
Destroyers
6
2
Frigates
7
8
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

60
Warheads
225
0
Deployed warheads
120

Compare other countries

Related matchups

Profiles: North Korea and United Kingdom. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.