Largest Armies in the World

Firepower is extremely important. A country's projection of power relies in large part upon its military capabilities. Successfully being able to project and wield that power is a key diplomatic asset. So, having one of the largest armies in the world is still a huge advantage in todays modern world.

This is a list of the world's largest armies, measured by the number of soldiers in uniform. This is not a list of the world's "strongest" armies, since military power is not simply a function of headcount. But headcount is an interesting measure, nonetheless. Counting heads is perhaps not as straightforward as might be imagined. The first problem is the terminological ambiguity of the word "army" which can mean either ground force troops, as in the US Army, or in many countries the ground forces are called ground forces, or words to that effect, while the entire military establishment is called the army.

Numbers may not be everything, but being able to overwhelm an enemy with sheer size does lend a certain advantage. There are a lot of other factors to consider when you’re trying to determine the strongest military, but if you’re curious about the largest armies in the world in terms of active personnel, visit Insidermonkey and read ahead.

Now that you know about the largest armies in the world, be sure to check out our previous cover story on The 9 Largest Private Armies In The World as well.