Transparency report

Data Sources & Military Strength Methodology

MilitaryDex separates reported inventory values from its own calculated score. This page documents what is in the 2026 edition, where it came from, how MSS is calculated and what the output cannot establish.

145

country profiles

31

curated equipment records

20

selected base records

Primary country-data sources

Global Firepower — 2026 country edition

Source for the country inventory snapshot: personnel, budget and major air, land and naval asset counts. MilitaryDex transforms field names and displays the values in a consistent country schema.

View source index

Federation of American Scientists

Reference for estimated nuclear-warhead figures. Nuclear inventories are estimates and can differ by definition, custody status and reporting date.

Status of World Nuclear Forces

Natural Earth — map geometry

Public-domain country-boundary geometry for the interactive world map. MilitaryDex generates local SVG paths from a pinned Natural Earth repository revision, so production rendering does not depend on a live map API.

Natural Earth terms of use

The equipment and bases sections are small, curated reference collections. They are not complete national inventories and are not inputs to the Military Strength Score. Equipment records include a platform-specific public background reference; listed specifications can still differ by variant, operator and date.

Military Strength Score (MSS)

MSS is a MilitaryDex index, not an official ranking. Most indicators use linear normalization against the largest reported value in the 145-country edition. Nuclear counts use logarithmic normalization because the range is unusually large. The final score is scaled so the leading country is approximately 95/100.

Manpower25%Active personnel 50%, reserves 30%, paramilitary 20%
Air power20%Aircraft, fighters, attack aircraft, helicopters and attack helicopters
Naval power15%Fleet size, carriers, destroyers, submarines and frigates
Land power15%Tanks, armored vehicles, self-propelled and towed artillery, MLRS
Financial15%Defense budget 80%, reported share of GDP 20%
Nuclear10%Estimated warhead count, log-scaled

How missing values are handled

  • Unavailable is not zero. Missing values are displayed as N/A and excluded from side-by-side win counts.
  • Reported zero remains zero. A zero is retained when the source snapshot reports no asset in that field.
  • Definitions can differ. “Active”, “reserve” and platform classes are not always defined identically by every source or country.

Important limitations

Inventory totals and spending do not measure training, readiness, maintenance, technology quality, command systems, logistics, geography, alliances, doctrine, morale or mission objectives. MSS cannot predict who would win a conflict. Small score or rank differences should not be treated as meaningful precision.

Edition and review date

Country data edition: 2026. MilitaryDex structure and source-link review: August 6, 2026. Figures remain volatile even within an edition.

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