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The army of which country – Argentina or Ecuador – is stronger?

Which country - Argentina or Ecuador - is military stronger? As it’s known, the basic components, which form the army strength and the state’s defense capability, are a) people b) money c) weapon. Let’s address each aspect.

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The armies’ comparison by the size

The army size directly depends on the country’s population and its mobilization potential. In the table below there is the information about human resources, mobilization potential and armed forces size of Argentina and Ecuador in 2025.

 Indicator   Argentina   Ecuador 
 The country’s population size   45,85 million people   18,29 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   17 576 000 people   6 738 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   699 000 people   315 000 people 
 The army size   108 000 people   41 250 people 

ТThus, Argentina leaves behind Ecuador by the number of soldiers in the service and by its mobilization potential.

Let’s note that the above mentioned data show only the quantitative characteristics without taking into account the professional level of military personnel and the quality (basic skills, physical condition, etc.) of the mobilized and conscripts.

It’s more difficult to estimate such parameters as motivation, combat spirit and soldier’s steadfastness, the ability and wish to perform their duties up to the end.

The comparison of military budgets    up

The military financing greatly depends on the country’s wealth – the stronger the economy is developed, the more finance can be allocated for the military expenses. As for the economy size, Argentina with its GDP of 1379 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Ecuador with its GDP of 287 billion dollars in times.

Argentina and Ecuador send 0,07 % and 0,83 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Argentina is 0.929 billion dollars and of Ecuador is 2.38 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Ecuador are times higher than in Argentina.

The comparison of armament     up

In the table below there is the information about some types of armament which are at the disposal of Argentina and Ecuador (we account the total amount of weapons in 2025, without considering modifications, the year of release and departmental affiliation):

 The types of armament   Argentina   Ecuador 
 Planes   239   102 
 Military helicopters   94   46 
 Tanks   342   54 
 Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS)   26   24 
 Self-propelled guns (SPG)   55   5 
 Towered artillery   172   106 

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Argentina and Ecuador one can orient on military strength ranking from GlobalFirepower (GFP). The GFP experts have analyzed more than 60 different factors which affect the defense ability of different countries and the effectiveness of their armed forces. As a result, they have calculated the combat power index. The lower it is, the stronger in the military sense the country is.

As of 2024, the countries under consideration take the following positions in GlobalFirepower rating:

Argentina - 33 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.6013;

Ecuador - 65 position in the world according to the combat power index 1.3021;

Thus, according to the GlobalFirepower, the more combat-ready are the armed forces of Argentina.

Do you want to compare other countries? Fill them in the proper gaps and chose the criteria for comparison:





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