Countries with the Most Military Troops

Try to name the countries that have the most active military troops.

As of 7 September 2023, according to Wikipedia

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Last updated: September 7, 2023

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First submitted	May 6, 2012
Times taken	216,199
Average score	77.3%
Rating	4.93

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Troops	Country
2,185,000	China
1,455,550	India
1,328,000	United States
1,280,000	North Korea
1,154,000	Russia
654,000	Pakistan
610,000	Iran
599,000	South Korea

Troops	Country
482,000	Vietnam
438,500	Egypt
425,000	Turkey
406,000	Myanmar
395,500	Indonesia
366,500	Brazil
360,850	Thailand

Troops	Country
293,200	Colombia
255,000	Sri Lanka
250,000	Afghanistan
247,150	Japan
227,000	Saudi Arabia
216,000	Mexico
209,000	Ukraine

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102 Recent Comments

Level 70

May 9, 2016

Many of these countries receive financial aid, and then go on to build massive armies and buy jet aircraft etc. .......... does nobody find this sickening?

+19

Level 60

May 24, 2016

That is the point of financial aid. The UK (for example) invests in the Indian space programme, and the Indian government buys aerospace equipment from BAE Systems, a UK-based company, which creates jobs in the UK. It's not us altruistically giving money to help poorer nations because we're nice, it's investment in overseas markets which increases opportunities for the UK. The same applies elsewhere.

Level 70

Jan 27, 2017

Great idea but it doesn't really work. UK are the 17th greatest exporters to India. Even a country such as Belgium (1/6th the size of UK) exports more to India and they don't give umpteen millions in aid to India to get the benefit.

Level 81

May 24, 2016

YAY!!! DPRK and ROK work finally. Thank you QM.

Level 72

May 24, 2016

=/ I could have sworn I typed in south korea, but I guess not

Level 55

May 27, 2016

Please accept Republic of China for "Taiwan" There is no country on Earth that calls itself Taiwan. There might be a Republic of Taiwan in the future but there isn't one yet. As of now Taiwan is a geographic location but it is technically not a political one.

+18

Level 47

Dec 17, 2017

You're right, no other country calls themselves "Taiwan," or else it would be 196 Taiwans of the World.

Level 66

Dec 19, 2017

His point is that Taiwan don't call themselves Taiwan either.

Level 79

Apr 5, 2020

tripsaplenty, you have been brainwashed by the Commies.

+22

Level 73

Feb 14, 2021

This has nothing to do with communist brainwashing, it's just a pointless technicality. It's like saying "there's no country called South Korea" because the official name is not South Korea.

Level 73

Dec 26, 2020

It's called Taiwan to differentiate from ... you know, the other China.

Level 50

Jun 18, 2021

Excuse me?

Level 54

Feb 15, 2024

What is bro on, Taiwan isn’t even on the quiz

Level 77

Mar 18, 2024

The comment is eight years old. Taiwan was apparently on the list back then. Quizzes do get updated, you know.

Level 44

Nov 27, 2024

I will say it for him. China, in which others refer to as Taiwan, even though that is incorrect, should be called China because it is part of China. I hope I have done you a favor to help you social credit score 🫡😉🤫

Level 60

May 27, 2016

I said south Korea like a million times and it still didn't accept it

+73

Level 67

Apr 21, 2017

Maybe you should try writing it instead?

Level 70

Oct 6, 2017

+10

Level 74

Oct 8, 2018

or even typing it

Level 80

Mar 3, 2019

Yep

Level 66

Jan 11, 2022

Maybe the best reply I've ever seen

Level 50

May 29, 2016

First quiz I think that I have got above average score on. Certainly wouldnt have guessed it would have been this one of all of them. Any where there are a few usa-based questions/answers then I will be lower than average.

Thank you questionmaster for updating it too!

I have to agree with the others about myanmar. Finally it has been updated.

Level 66

Dec 19, 2016

I'm very surprised not to see Israel on this list. I thought they were all about their army.

Level 47

Dec 19, 2016

The list is not per capita so obviously Israel isn't on the list with their population of 8 million.

Level 37

Jan 11, 2017

Got all except Myanmar! nice quiz

Level 75

Jun 5, 2017

Surprised I didn't see Eritrea here.

Level 34

Jul 11, 2024

3,5 million inhabitants

Level 55

Oct 6, 2017

How did I miss Taiwan lol would have had 100%

Level 67

Dec 18, 2017

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_military_and_paramilitary_personnel

Level 43

Jan 28, 2018

missed on sri lanka

Level 81

Mar 3, 2018

Took me a while to get that one, too.

Level 49

Jun 9, 2020

Sri Lanka is a somewhat surprising one for me as well, not immediately intuative.

Level 58

Mar 3, 2018

Only missed two. I was going to guess Sri Lanka, but then second guessed myself and didn't think it would be on here. I don't know why I didn't think to guess Syria though.

Level 36

Mar 4, 2018

wow sri lanka?~

Level 82

Mar 15, 2018

Surprised Taiwan misses out. Also amazing how small European militaries have become - once this list would have been completely dominated by Europe.

Level 75

May 20, 2018

Quality over quantity. The most powerful European countries now prefer professionalism and training over numbers.

+11

Level 83

Feb 27, 2020

Also subsidized by US force projection in Germany and elsewhere. Much less need to maintain their own troops.

Level 70

Apr 11, 2018

China has 0.227 soldiers per square Km. USA has 0.137 S per Km2, Russia 0.06 S per Km2, North Korea 9.87 soldiers per Km2.... interesting yes?

Level 73

Dec 26, 2020

Well obviously North Korea is much smaller than those countries.

Monaco has 121 soldiers per km2, even though they only have 255 soldiers...

Level 59

Nov 10, 2021

well im also guessing the soldiers arent evenly dispersed throughout the land

Level 64

Apr 26, 2018

See if the Countries with the most troops are also on the list of the 50 Most Powerful Military Nations

Level 38

Apr 29, 2018

I've lost a point because of Srí Lanka. Danke schön!

Level 66

Jan 11, 2022

I doubt you lost one...Probably actually gained four.

Level 70

Sep 9, 2018

Can someone explain why Japan can have 250,000 soldiers when the 9th article of the Japanese Constitution forbids it? Also, is China such a big threat to Japan that they need so many soldiers?

+12

Level 74

Oct 8, 2018

As far as I understand it, their army is purely for defence and that is allowed. The military may be used in law and order, disaster response and as a form of welfare giving youth some training and discipline...

And yes, China is threatening the stability of east Asia

Level 71

Mar 18, 2020

This has been an interesting subject to me; it is rather misleading to discount paramilitary forces. Japan for example has quite small paramilitary forces, so presumably the military takes on tasks which in other countries it might not. Italy on the other hand has military forces that are not small by European standards but also has a large paramilitary force (Carabinieri) which in the eventuality might well be deployed to a war zone in a way that another country's paramilitary would not (but then perhaps Italy's 'civilian' police forces are correspondingly smaller). Having said that, both these countries attempt to avoid doing any such thing, and sometimes it is hard to argue that they are wrong.

Level 72

Jan 17, 2019

This quiz would be nice per capita! (Or countries with the leadt military troops

Level 73

Feb 2, 2019

This quiz says it was updated January 2018 but it appears that Sudan's listed active military is still combining Sudan and South Sudan's military numbers. South Sudan has 185,000 active while Sudan only has 104,300.

Level 44

Sep 30, 2019

sad sad world

Level 70

Sep 30, 2019

Only missed Sudan and Sri Lanka. Honestly wouldn't have ever guessed the latter.

Level 49

Feb 21, 2020

Wow I got Sudan somehow but missed Sri Lanka. Don’t understand those two at all

Level 71

Feb 25, 2020

Just created a similar quiz looking at the countries with the most active military troops per capita (https://www.jetpunk.com/user-quizzes/108298/countries-with-the-most-military-troops-per-capita). Makes for a much different list, though with a couple countries that cross over.

Level 22

Feb 25, 2020

15/20 first try good quiz

Level 77

Mar 22, 2020

Im sry, little sri lanka

Level 32

Apr 6, 2020

Good one

Level 36

Apr 5, 2020

Felice che l'Italia non ci sia

Level 25

Apr 5, 2020

Didn't expect Sri Lanka here tbh it was the one that i was missing

Level 51

Apr 5, 2020

Got them all. Hope the US is proud being on here with all those military dictatorships.

Level 45

Apr 6, 2020

lmaoooo why do you think we need them all? Freedom isn't cheap

Level 51

Apr 7, 2020

I'm sure Iran is about to launch a sneak attack on Washington any day now.

Level 28

Apr 15, 2020

Why does Sri Lanka have so many troops?

Level 81

May 26, 2020

you gotta fight for your right to படி

Level 59

Aug 14, 2020

The sri lankian govt has been fightning the tamil tigers for decades. they also are close to several massive military nations with indonesia, burma, india, pakistan and iran.

Level 53

Aug 6, 2021

Because Sri Lanka had an active war zone against the LTTE Terrorists in the northern part of the island for over 30 years, which ended in 2007. This meant that military recruitment was over the roof to account for the losses in active duty and to overpower the terrorist strongholds. To their credit it worked, and by the time the leader of the LTTE was killed in 2007 the LTTE cause was pretty much finished.

Only by the time the war was won by the government forces the military was such a juggernaut and the public propoganda was so effective that the army never stopped growing in size. Now thirteen years after the war has ended the military is still getting stronger and larger every year.

Level 67

Sep 7, 2023

pull up in the sri lanka

Level 63

Jul 30, 2020

I never knew Sri Lanka had that many troops

Level 59

Nov 13, 2020

So the lesson is: Laos is screwed?

Level 51

Dec 5, 2020

Cool Quiz!

In the thumbnail you can see a picture of

Mao Tse Tung who is former chairman of china indicating China as one of the answers most likely

Level 30

Dec 8, 2020

Wholeheartedly surprised that Palau isn't on this list. What happens when the strong Tuvalu military comes and attacks them. The Marshall Islands and Solomon Islands should be afraid!

Level 57

Jan 15, 2021

Would have thought Taiwan would have made the list

Level 43

Aug 11, 2021

Im suprised Columbia and Sri Lanka was on this list

Level 59

Nov 10, 2021

colombia

Level 63

Nov 10, 2021

Sri Lanka!?

Level 32

Nov 10, 2021

Sri lanka? Really? That's a surprise.

Level 53

Nov 10, 2021

Sri Lanka on last second!

Level 55

Nov 10, 2021

I understand Sri Lanka just surprised it beat out Taiwan

Level 47

Dec 2, 2021

I considered Sri Lanka but instantly dismissed it. Also fancied Taiwan as a dark horse here.

Level 21

Nov 10, 2021

nice quiz

Level 90

Sep 8, 2023

pssst...If you're undercover, you probably shouldn't announce it! ;)

Level 24

Nov 11, 2021

I missed Sri Lanka and Colombia.

Level 27

Dec 29, 2021

You have the wrong name for number one it is actually west taiwan....

Level 67

Jul 28, 2022

You're wrong, the correct name is Mainland Taiwan.

Level 69

Sep 8, 2023

It's actually Eastern Colombia.

Level 49

Jan 14, 2022

since when does sri lanka have more troops than japan, saudi arabia, and mexico?

Level 74

Feb 13, 2022

Fun quiz. I had always thought DPRK was top, maybe that was percentage of population perhaps. Had to really think about some of these so was a nice challenge. Thank you.

Level 70

Mar 4, 2022

Wow Sri Lanka's an unexpected one, you'd think something like Bangladesh would be higher

Level 37

May 6, 2022

Well, No one can easily attack Bangladesh except India,and Bangladesh can't match Indian army Even spending 100% of Their GDP.Also India is friendly toward Bangladesh. So Bangladesh Govt. is not so focused on their military.

Level 54

May 10, 2022

Took me a while to get Sri Lanka. Was not expecting it on here

Level 50

Aug 31, 2022

I was really surprised to see Canada, Togo, Chile, Czechia, Bhutan, and Fiji on this list!

Level 41

Jan 29, 2023

france, uk, germany, canada, and the penguin empire has left the chat

Level 67

Apr 24, 2023

Near misses: Ukraine, France, Eritrea.

Level 83

Sep 7, 2023

Ukraine is there now!

Level 65

Sep 8, 2023

yes, but there are significantly more active soldiers in Ukraine at the moment

Level 20

Sep 10, 2023

oh, i only forgot myanmar. nice test

Level 65

Sep 10, 2023

Only missed Sri Lanka, didn't see that one coming!

Level 47

Sep 10, 2023

Damn it, Sri Lanka. I tried every other country from South Asia and Southeast Asia. I even tried Bhutan for some reason, but somehow forgot Sri Lanka.

Level 67

Sep 11, 2023

Got all but Sri Lanka. Like everyone else, apparently.

Level 41

Sep 11, 2023

I just looked at the comments and got Sri Lanka. It's that easy. 100%.

Level 63

Sep 12, 2023

It would be interesting to add a column showing the percentage of the total population for each country.

Level 78

Sep 27, 2023

No European countries on here. Even if you summed up ALL of the European nations that are part of NATO, they would still be 3rd on the list. Double the population of the USA and about equal military personnel, with Russia breathing down their necks. Only 5 of these European NATO nations meet their 2% commitment on defense. Maybe it's time to get those numbers up.

Level 47

Oct 6, 2023

Why isn't Monaco on the list?

Level 62

Nov 19, 2023

*sri lanka rage quit*

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