Soldiers from an unspecified nation march along a street. Armies have been the backbone of military strength for thousands of years, and remain so today. (Shutterstock/Real_life_photo)

Which Countries Have the Biggest Armies? (And Are They the Best?)

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Though larger armies tend to be stronger, the number of personnel in uniform is not a surefire indicator of military strength—a point illustrated by the outlier on this list.

The history of humanity is a history of warfare. For thousands of years, civilizations have depended on armies to remain free of their neighbors, or to conquer them. And while the world has advanced in almost all respects since antiquity, nearly all nations in the world face the same fundamental problems of security that the Greek city-states faced millennia ago.

Small nations like Armenia and Azerbaijan face different constraints than large ones like China and India, but the basic principle is the same: in an uncertain world, the only sure way to protect one’s people from a hostile neighbor is through military strength. Over time, the strength of a nation’s army alone—the backbone of military might—has been supplemented by its navy and (more recently) its air force, along with specialty branches such as coast guards and special forces.

How to Measure Army Size

The global ranking for the world’s largest armed forces depends entirely upon how armed forces are measured—by standing active-duty troops only, or by a country’s “total mobilized manpower,” which accounts for reserves and paramilitary networks.

Of course, total mobilized manpower isn’t a very useful metric for strength. By that, the country with the largest army in the world is North Korea, which counts almost every male citizen as a member in some........

© The National Interest