Which country - El Salvador or Kuwait - 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.
● Which army is numerically bigger?
● Where is the military spending higher?
● Let’s compare the armies of El Salvador and Kuwait by the combat power.
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 El Salvador and Kuwait in 2025.
| Indicator | El Salvador | Kuwait |
| The country’s population size | 6,37 million people | 5,03 million people |
| The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service | 2 512 000 people | 1 450 000 people |
| The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age | 145 000 people | 37 200 people |
| The army size | 25 000 people | 72 000 people |
So, El Salvador is inferior to Kuwait 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, Kuwait with its GDP of 249 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses El Salvador with its GDP of 83,9 billion dollars in times.
El Salvador and Kuwait send 0,4 % and 2,79 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of El Salvador is 0.335 billion dollars and of Kuwait is 6.95 billion dollars.
Hence, the military expenses of Kuwait are times higher than in El Salvador.
The comparison of armament up↑
In the table below there is the information about some types of armament which are at the disposal of El Salvador and Kuwait (we account the total amount of weapons in 2025, without considering modifications, the year of release and departmental affiliation):
| The types of armament | El Salvador | Kuwait |
| Planes | 52 | 128 |
| Military helicopters | 30 | 67 |
The comparison by the combat power index up↑
While contrasting the armed forces of El Salvador and Kuwait 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:
● El Salvador - 128 position in the world according to the combat power index 2.9371; ● Kuwait - 79 position in the world according to the combat power index 1.6982; Thus, according to the GlobalFirepower, the more combat-ready are the armed forces of Kuwait. Do you want to compare other countries? Fill them in the proper gaps and chose the criteria for comparison:
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