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The army of which country – Lebanon or Yemen – is stronger?

Which country - Lebanon or Yemen - 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 Lebanon and Yemen in 2025.

 Indicator   Lebanon   Yemen 
 The country’s population size   5,85 million people   41,77 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   1 776 000 people   9 031 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   69 300 people   600 000 people 
 The army size   60 000 people   66 700 people 

Thus, Lebanon is inferior to Yemen in the number of soldiers in service as well as in 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, Yemen with its GDP of 69,2 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Lebanon with its GDP of 63,2 billion dollars in times.

Lebanon and Yemen send 1,22 % and 1,17 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Lebanon is 0.768 billion dollars and of Yemen is 0.81 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Yemen are times higher than in Lebanon.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Lebanon   Yemen 
 Planes   80   84 
 Military helicopters   68   30 
 Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS)   11   10 
 Towered artillery   353   15 

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Lebanon and Yemen 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:

Lebanon - 115 position in the world according to the combat power index 2.5981;

Yemen - 85 position in the world according to the combat power index 1.8901;

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

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





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