Military Power.net

North Koreavs Spain

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, Spain (#18) holds a solid edge over North Korea (#31).

  • North Korea has nuclear weapons; Spain has none.
  • Spain has aircraft carriers; North Korea has none.
  • North Korea has destroyers; Spain has none.

Who leads in each area

  1. People and moneyNorth Korea leads 3 of 4
  2. Land forcesNorth Korea leads 4 of 5
  3. Air powerNorth Korea leads 5 of 7
  4. Naval forcesNorth Korea leads 4 of 7
  5. Nuclear weaponsNorth Korea leads 1 of 2

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.

$4.8B*
Military spending
$40.2B
1.32M
Active personnel
122K
560K
Reserves
24K
100K
Paramilitary
78K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (Spain: 2.1% of GDP). * SIPRI publishes no figure for this country, so the Global Firepower budget estimate is shown instead.

Land forces

Armour and artillery: the weight an army can put on the ground.

4,895
Tanks
298
48K
Armored vehicles
49K
1,300
Self-propelled artillery
96
700
Towed artillery
188
1,500
Rocket artillery
0

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

837
Total aircraft
440
341
Fighters
136
114
Attack aircraft
12
205
Helicopters
169
20
Attack helicopters
17
0
Tankers
0
1
Transports
51

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

332
Total fleet
175
0
Aircraft carriers
1
0
Helicopter carriers
0
24
Submarines
2
2
Destroyers
0
2
Frigates
11
8
Corvettes
0

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

60
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

Profiles: North Korea and Spain. Sources: Global Firepower 2026, SIPRI Military Expenditure 2025 (Apr 2026), SIPRI Yearbook 2026: World Nuclear Forces.