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The army of which country – Tajikistan or Azerbaijan – is stronger?

Which country - Tajikistan or Azerbaijan - 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 Tajikistan and Azerbaijan in 2025.

 Indicator   Tajikistan   Azerbaijan 
 The country’s population size   10,79 million people   10,4 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   3 773 000 people   3 909 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   157 000 people   156 000 people 
 The army size   9500 people   126 400 people 

Thus, Tajikistan is inferior to Azerbaijan 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, Azerbaijan with its GDP of 256 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Tajikistan with its GDP of 57,2 billion dollars in times.

Tajikistan and Azerbaijan send 0,78 % and 1,95 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of Tajikistan is 0.446 billion dollars and of Azerbaijan is 5 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of Azerbaijan are times higher than in Tajikistan.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   Tajikistan   Azerbaijan 
 Planes   25   154 
 Military helicopters   20   86 
   including attack helicopters   6   16 
 Tanks   38   497 
 Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS)   20   268 
 Self-propelled guns (SPG)   3   198 
 Towered artillery   13   650 

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of Tajikistan and Azerbaijan 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:

Tajikistan - 108 position in the world according to the combat power index 2.3049;

Azerbaijan - 60 position in the world according to the combat power index 1.2531;

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

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





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