Military Power.net

South Koreavs Taiwan

On Global Firepower's 2026 index, South Korea (#5) holds a clear lead over Taiwan (#22).

  • South Korea fields 5.5× as many submarines.
  • South Korea fields 3.5× as many destroyers.
  • South Korea spends 2.6× as much on its military.
  1. People and moneySouth Korea leads 4 of 4
  2. Land forcesSouth Korea leads 5 of 5
  3. Air powerSouth Korea leads 6 of 7
  4. Naval forcesSouth Korea leads 4 of 7
  5. Nuclear weaponsEven, 0–0

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.

$47.8B
Military spending
$18.2B
450K
Active personnel
230K
3.1M
Reserves
1.66M
120K
Paramilitary
55K

Spending is SIPRI's 2025 estimate in US dollars (South Korea: 2.6% of GDP; Taiwan: 2.1% of GDP).

Land forces

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

1,831
Tanks
1,090
117K
Armored vehicles
24K
2,780
Self-propelled artillery
488
5,800
Towed artillery
1,360
525
Rocket artillery
223

Air power

Fixed-wing and rotary aircraft across all branches.

1,540
Total aircraft
720
242
Fighters
258
98
Attack aircraft
0
827
Helicopters
239
113
Attack helicopters
91
4
Tankers
0
40
Transports
19

Naval forces

Hull counts, from carriers down to patrol boats.

215
Total fleet
91
0
Aircraft carriers
0
2
Helicopter carriers
0
22
Submarines
4
14
Destroyers
4
18
Frigates
21
3
Corvettes
7

Nuclear weapons

Estimated warheads in military stockpiles, January 2026.

0
Warheads
0
0
Deployed warheads
0

Compare other countries

Related matchups

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