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The army of which country – Iran or Tanzania – is stronger?

Which country - Iran or Tanzania - 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 Iran and Tanzania in 2025.

 Indicator   Iran   Tanzania 
 The country’s population size   92,42 million people   70,55 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   41 542 000 people   6 679 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   1401 000 people   591 000 people 
 The army size   610 000 people   27 000 people 

ТThus, Iran leaves behind Tanzania 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, Iran with its GDP of 1696 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Tanzania with its GDP of 270 billion dollars in times.

Iran and Tanzania send 0,91 % and 0,52 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Iran is 15.5 billion dollars and of Tanzania is 1.41 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Iran are times higher than in Tanzania.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Iran   Tanzania 
 Planes   551   39 
 Military helicopters   128   12 
 Tanks   1713   62 

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Iran and Tanzania 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:

Iran - 16 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.3048;

Tanzania - 92 position in the world according to the combat power index 2.0416;

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

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





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