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The army of which country – USA or Saudi Arabia – is stronger?

Which country - USA or Saudi Arabia - 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 USA and Saudi Arabia in 2025.

 Indicator   USA   Saudi Arabia 
 The country’s population size   347,3 million people   34,57 million people 
 The number of citizens who are potentially fit for military service   124 817 000 people   17 468 000 people 
 The number of citizens who yearly reach military service age   4 416 000 people   611 000 people 
 The army size   1 328 000 people   257 000 people 

ТThus, USA leaves behind Saudi Arabia 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, USA with its GDP of 29185 billion dollars (which was calculated by purchasing power parity) surpasses Saudi Arabia with its GDP of 2109 billion dollars in times.

USA and Saudi Arabia send 3,07 % and 3,55 % of GDP to the military expenses, respectively. As a result, the military budget of USA is 895 billion dollars and of Saudi Arabia is 74.8 billion dollars.

Hence, the military expenses of USA are times higher than in Saudi Arabia.

The comparison of armament     up

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

 The types of armament   USA   Saudi Arabia 
 Planes   13043   917 
 Military helicopters   5843   264 
   including attack helicopters   1002   34 
 Tanks   4640   840 
 Multiple-launch rocket systems (MLRS)   641   321 
 Self-propelled guns (SPG)   671   332 
 Towered artillery   1212   467 

USA and Saudi Arabia have naval forces. The total displacement of the military fleet of USA is 3511,6 thousand tons, Saudi Arabia - 28,9 thousand tons.

USA is in the nuclear club. In the country’s arsenal they have 5277 nuclear warheads. Saudi Arabia doesn’t have nuclear weapons at present.

The comparison by the combat power index    up

While contrasting the armed forces of USA and Saudi Arabia 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:

USA - 1 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.0744;

Saudi Arabia - 24 position in the world according to the combat power index 0.4201;

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

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





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