North Korea
Global Firepower rank #31 of 145 路 PowerIndex 0.5933 (lower is stronger)
SIPRI publishes no spending figure for North Korea; Global Firepower estimates its defense budget at $4.8 billion. It is a nuclear-armed state with an estimated 60 warheads in its military stockpile (SIPRI, January 2026).
People and money
- Military spending
- $4.8B*
- Active personnel
- 1.32M
- Reserves
- 560K
- Paramilitary
- 100K
Land forces
- Tanks
- 4,895
- Armored vehicles
- 48K
- Self-propelled artillery
- 1,300
- Towed artillery
- 700
- Rocket artillery
- 1,500
Air power
- Total aircraft
- 837
- Fighters
- 341
- Attack aircraft
- 114
- Helicopters
- 205
- Attack helicopters
- 20
- Tankers
- 0
- Transports
- 1
Naval forces
- Total fleet
- 332
- Aircraft carriers
- 0
- Helicopter carriers
- 0
- Submarines
- 24
- Destroyers
- 2
- Frigates
- 2
- Corvettes
- 8
Nuclear weapons
- Warheads
- 60
- Deployed warheads
- 0
Compare North Korea with
Australia 路 Brazil 路 China 路 Egypt 路 France 路 Germany 路 India 路 Indonesia 路 Iran 路 Israel 路 Italy 路 Japan 路 Pakistan 路 Poland 路 Russia 路 Saudi Arabia 路 South Korea 路 Spain 路 Taiwan 路 Turkey 路 Ukraine 路 United Kingdom 路 United States
Last updated 2026-10-27. Sources: Global Firepower 2026 (personnel, equipment counts, powerindex), SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026) (military spending, share of gdp), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces (nuclear warheads (jan 2026)).