Compare / China vs Russia
China vs Russia
China ranks #2 and Russia ranks #3 in the 2026 Military Atlas Index. China spends $336B on defense with 2.04M active personnel; Russia spends $190B with 1.26M.
| Overview | ||
|---|---|---|
| #2 | Global Rank | #3 |
| $336B | Defense Budget | $190B |
| 1.7% | Budget % of GDP | 7.5% |
| $19.50T | GDP | $2.56T |
| 1.41B | Population | 143.51M |
| Personnel | ||
| 2.04M | Active Personnel | 1.26M |
| 510K | Reserve Personnel | 1.50M |
| 500K | Paramilitary | 569K |
| Air | ||
| 5,316 | Military Aircraft | 4,193 |
| 2,263 | Combat Aircraft | 1,886 |
| 1,844 | Fighter Jets | 1,211 |
| 308 | 5th Gen Fighters | 29 |
| 419 | Bombers | 118 |
| 1,310 | Helicopters | 1,532 |
| 320 | Attack Helicopters | 577 |
| 53 | Military Drones (UAV) | 0 |
| Land | ||
| 4,500 | Main Battle Tanks | 3,550 |
| 11,900 | Infantry Fighting Vehicles | 1,958 |
| 8,450 | Armoured Personnel Carriers | 4,727 |
| 10,560 | Artillery Systems | 2,902 |
| Naval | ||
| 59 | Submarines | 56 |
| 13 | Nuclear Submarines | 37 |
| 2 | Aircraft Carriers | 1 |
| 5 | Helicopter / Amphibious Carriers | 0 |
| Strategic | ||
| 620 | Nuclear Warheads | 5,420 |
| 11 | Ballistic Missile Systems | 12 |
| 4 | ICBM Systems | 5 |
| 4 | Cruise Missile Systems | 7 |
| 2 | Hypersonic Systems | 3 |
| 15,000 km | Longest Missile Range | 16,000 km |
China leads in 16 of the 27 measured categories, Russia in 11. Numbers alone do not decide a war: training, logistics, geography, alliances and nuclear deterrence matter too. A dash means the source publishes no figure.
Sources: CSIS Missile Threat, Federation of American Scientists, IISS Military Balance, Military Atlas Index, SIPRI, Wikipedia, Wikipedia / FlightGlobal, World Bank.