Chinavs France
On Global Firepower's 2026 index, China (#3) holds a narrow edge over France (#6).
- China fields 14× as many tanks.
- China has 7.7× as many active troops.
- China fields 6.8× as many submarines.
Who leads in each area
- People and moneyChina leads 4 of 4
- Land forcesChina leads 5 of 5
- Air powerChina leads 6 of 7
- Naval forcesChina leads 7 of 7
- Nuclear weaponsEven, 1–1
Leads count raw numbers in each category. Larger is not always stronger: a modern fleet can beat a bigger, older one.
People and money
Who can be put in uniform, and how much is spent keeping them there.
$336B
Military spending
$68.0B2.04M
Active personnel
264K510K
Reserves
43K625K
Paramilitary
150KSpending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (China: 1.7% of GDP; France: 2% of GDP).
Land forces
Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.
5,870
Tanks
427152K
Armored vehicles
111K2,940
Self-propelled artillery
741,400
Towed artillery
02,770
Rocket artillery
9Air power
Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.
3,529
Total aircraft
9741,443
Fighters
223371
Attack aircraft
01,007
Helicopters
452281
Attack helicopters
679
Tankers
15287
Transports
118Naval forces
Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.
841
Total fleet
1663
Aircraft carriers
14
Helicopter carriers
361
Submarines
953
Destroyers
1146
Frigates
550
Corvettes
0Nuclear weapons
Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.
620
Warheads
29034
Deployed warheads
280Compare other countries
Related matchups
- United StatesvsChina
- ChinavsIndia
- ChinavsRussia
- ChinavsTaiwan
- ChinavsJapan
- United KingdomvsFrance
- GermanyvsFrance
- RussiavsFrance
Profiles: China and France. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.