The encyclopedia of countries and cities 

The army of which country – Senegal or Cuba – is stronger?

Which country - Senegal or Cuba - 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 Senegal and Cuba in 2025.

 Indicator   Senegal   Cuba 
 The country’s population size   18,93 million people   10,94 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   4 090 000 people   4 737 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   386 000 people   143 000 people 
 The army size   17 000 people   45 500 people 

Thus, Senegal is inferior to Cuba 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, Cuba with its GDP of 137 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Senegal with its GDP of 94,7 billion dollars in times.

Senegal and Cuba send 0,49 % and 3,29 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Senegal is 0.465 billion dollars and of Cuba is 4.51 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Cuba are times higher than in Senegal.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Senegal   Cuba 
 Planes   40   31 
 Military helicopters   20   13 
   including attack helicopters   5   4 
 Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS)   6   15 
 Towered artillery   20   130 

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Senegal and Cuba 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:

Senegal - 125 position in the world according to the combat power index 2.8116;

Cuba - 67 position in the world according to the combat power index 1.3286;

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

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