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The army of which country – Spain or Thailand – is stronger?

Which country - Spain or Thailand - 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 Spain and Thailand in 2025.

 Indicator   Spain   Thailand 
 The country’s population size   47,89 million people   71,62 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   17 636 000 people   27 968 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   331 000 people   1 117 000 people 
 The army size   133 300 people   360 850 people 

Thus, Spain is inferior to Thailand 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, Spain with its GDP of 2672 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Thailand with its GDP of 1771 billion dollars in times.

Spain and Thailand send 0,88 % and 0,33 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Spain is 23.4 billion dollars and of Thailand is 5.89 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Spain are times higher than in Thailand.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Spain   Thailand 
 Planes   461   493 
 Military helicopters   153   258 
   including attack helicopters   17   7 
 Tanks   317   635 
 Self-propelled guns (SPG)   95   50 
 Towered artillery   287   589 

Spain and Thailand have naval forces. The total displacement of the military fleet of Spain is 112,6 thousand tons, Thailand - 40,4 thousand tons.

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Spain and Thailand 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:

Spain - 17 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.3242;

Thailand - 25 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.4536;

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

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





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