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The army of which country – Peru or Portugal – is stronger?

Which country - Peru or Portugal - 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 Peru and Portugal in 2025.

 Indicator   Peru   Portugal 
 The country’s population size   34,58 million people   10,41 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   12 681 000 people   4 096 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   616 000 people   126 000 people 
 The army size   120 000 people   24000 people 

ТThus, Peru leaves behind Portugal 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, Peru with its GDP of 609 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Portugal with its GDP of 512 billion dollars in times.

Peru and Portugal send 0,56 % and 0,9 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Peru is 3.42 billion dollars and of Portugal is 4.63 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Portugal are times higher than in Peru.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Peru   Portugal 
 Planes   256   115 
 Military helicopters   111   31 
 Tanks   240   34 
 Self-propelled guns (SPG)   12   24 
 Towered artillery   290   115 

Peru and Portugal have naval forces. The total displacement of the military fleet of Peru is 59,5 thousand tons, Portugal - 20,3 thousand tons.

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Peru and Portugal 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:

Peru - 49 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.8588;

Portugal - 39 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.6856;

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

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





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