Head-to-Head

Iran vs North Korea

Side-by-side military and economic comparison. Blue is Iran, red is North Korea. Every figure links back to its full world ranking.
🇮🇷 Iran
MIL. STRENGTH #16
VS
🇰🇵 North Korea
1 COUNTRIES SUMMED
88M 26M
👥 Population
$400B n/a
📈 GDP (Nominal)
$20B n/a
💰 Defense Budget
610k 1.3M
🪖 Active Personnel
🪖 North Korea's active force is 2.1× larger
✈️ North Korea's air fleet is 1.7× larger
👥 Iran's population is 3.4× larger
MANPOWERLANDAIRNAVALECONOMYBUDGET
IranNorth Korea
Fleet Modernity — Quality, Not Just Count
MIXED
✈️ Air Fleet
AGING
MIXED
🛡️ Armor Fleet
AGING
LIKELY AGING
⚓ Naval Fleet
UNKNOWN
ADVANCED
🛰️ Drones / UAV
BASIC
Tiers weight fleet generation and era, not raw counts — a smaller modern fleet often outmatches a larger obsolete one on paper.
Leads More Categories
★ North Korea
Iran wins 2 of 6 · North Korea wins 3 of 6 · 1 tied
Manpower
— Tie
Financials
★ Iran
Airpower
★ North Korea
Land Power
★ Iran
Naval Power
★ North Korea
Strategic
★ North Korea
Manpower
★ 88,000,000
👥 Total Population
26,000,000
610,000
🪖 Active Personnel
1,280,000 ★
350,000
🎖️ Reserve Personnel
600,000 ★
★ 190,000
👮 Paramilitary Forces
n/a
Financials
★ $20B
💰 Defense Budget
n/a
★ $400B
📈 GDP (Nominal)
n/a
Airpower
551
✈️ Total Aircraft
950 ★
186
🛩️ Fighter Aircraft
400 ★
365
🛫 Bombers & Other Aircraft
550 ★
★ 129
🚁 Helicopters (Total)
n/a
Land Power
1,996
🛡️ Tank Strength
4,000 ★
★ 4,071
🚚 Armored Vehicles
n/a
★ 2,050
💥 Towed Artillery
n/a
Naval Power
110
⚓ Fleet Strength
500 ★
19
🌊 Submarines
24 ★
0
🛳️ Aircraft Carriers
0
Strategic
0
☢️ Nuclear Warheads
50 ★
Full profile
🇮🇷 Iran
Category winners count metric-by-metric leads only; "n/a" values count as zero, so data gaps can skew a category. Cross-check before citing.