The encyclopedia of countries and cities 

The army of which country – Ghana or UAE – is stronger?

Which country - Ghana or UAE - 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.

***

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 Ghana and UAE in 2025.

 Indicator   Ghana   UAE 
 The country’s population size   35,06 million people   11,35 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   9 962 000 people   4 946 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   609 000 people   79 800 people 
 The army size   15 500 people   65 000 people 

So, Ghana is inferior to UAE by the number of soldiers in service, although it surpasses by the 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, UAE with its GDP of 848 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Ghana with its GDP of 276 billion dollars in times.

Ghana and UAE send 0,11 % and 0,26 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Ghana is 0.309 billion dollars and of UAE is 2.21 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of UAE are times higher than in Ghana.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Ghana   UAE 
 Planes   19   551 
 Military helicopters   10   247 
 Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS)   6   49 
 Towered artillery   6   99 

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Ghana and UAE 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:

Ghana - 110 position in the world according to the combat power index 2.3775;

UAE - 54 position in the world according to the combat power index 1.0186;

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

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





Useful information?

Share with friends!

Наверх