Compare / China vs United Kingdom
China vs United Kingdom
China ranks #2 and the United Kingdom ranks #5 in the 2026 Military Atlas Index. China spends $336B on defense with 2.04M active personnel; the United Kingdom spends $89.0B with 141K.
| Overview | ||
|---|---|---|
| #2 | Global Rank | #5 |
| $336B | Defense Budget | $89.0B |
| 1.7% | Budget % of GDP | 2.4% |
| $19.50T | GDP | $4.00T |
| 1.41B | Population | 69.49M |
| Personnel | ||
| 2.04M | Active Personnel | 141K |
| 510K | Reserve Personnel | 70K |
| 500K | Paramilitary | 0 |
| Air | ||
| 5,316 | Military Aircraft | 593 |
| 2,263 | Combat Aircraft | 172 |
| 1,844 | Fighter Jets | 171 |
| 308 | 5th Gen Fighters | 47 |
| 419 | Bombers | 1 |
| 1,310 | Helicopters | 218 |
| 320 | Attack Helicopters | 72 |
| 53 | Military Drones (UAV) | 12 |
| Land | ||
| 4,500 | Main Battle Tanks | 285 |
| 11,900 | Infantry Fighting Vehicles | 526 |
| 8,450 | Armoured Personnel Carriers | 2,750 |
| 10,560 | Artillery Systems | 166 |
| Naval | ||
| 59 | Submarines | 10 |
| 13 | Nuclear Submarines | 10 |
| 2 | Aircraft Carriers | 2 |
| 5 | Helicopter / Amphibious Carriers | 0 |
| Strategic | ||
| 620 | Nuclear Warheads | 225 |
| 11 | Ballistic Missile Systems | 1 |
| 4 | ICBM Systems | 0 |
| 4 | Cruise Missile Systems | 2 |
| 2 | Hypersonic Systems | 0 |
| 15,000 km | Longest Missile Range | 12,000 km |
China leads in 26 of the 26 measured categories, the United Kingdom in 0. 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.