Country Profile
🇰🇵
North Korea
Composite power index · percentile among 118 scored countries#6
WEAKESTP25MEDIANP75STRONGEST
Figures are educated estimates from open reporting or, where marked, formula-modeled. Blank fields are not estimated, not assumed zero.
Overview
North Korea is located in Asia (Eastern Asia). It has an estimated population of 26,000,000. Its armed forces field an estimated 1,280,000 active-duty personnel, backed by roughly 600,000 reservists, ranking #4 of 174 countries in this dataset by active personnel. Its inventory includes an estimated 950 military aircraft, 4,000 tanks, 500 naval vessels. North Korea's air fleet is assessed as aging and its armored fleet as aging in this dataset's modernity model. North Korea has a basic-tier documented drone/UAV program. North Korea is a declared or estimated nuclear weapons state, with an estimated 50 warheads.
Auto-generated from the figures on this page — not independently researched prose.
Global Standing percentile per metric
Active Conflicts
No tracked active conflicts involving North Korea. See the Conflict Watch map for all 19 tracked conflicts.
Share of World
of world population
26,000,000 people
of world active personnel
1,280,000 soldiers
Economy & Demographics
Manpower
Force Composition1,880,000 total personnel
Active 68%Reserve 32%
Financials & Strategic
Soldiers per 1,000 people: 49.2
🛰️Drone / UAV Capability
Basic
Airpower
Helicopters (Total)
n/a
✈️Air Fleet Modernity
AGINGModernity score 2.4/5.0
Named Aircraft Fleet (311 of 950 total)
ESTIMATED
MiG-29 GEN 4 · MAINSTAY
35
MiG-23 (legacy) GEN 3 · AGING
56
MiG-21 (legacy) GEN 2 · OBSOLETE
120
J-6/MiG-19 (legacy) GEN 2 · OBSOLETE
100
Fleet Modernity Score
2.4 / 5.0
Count-weighted average generation of the named fleet above, NOT raw aircraft count. This is exactly the fix for "600 obsolete jets vs. 300 modern ones": North Korea has more aircraft than most of its neighbors but a modernity score near 2.0 (nearly all Gen 2-3), while the US and Israel score near 4.5-5.0 despite smaller headline totals in some matchups.
Land Power
🛡️Armor Fleet Modernity
AGINGCount-weighted era of the named fleet
Named Tank Fleet (3,400 of 4,000 total)
ESTIMATED
Songun-Ho / Pokpung-Ho (T-62 derived) OBSOLETE
800
T-55/T-62 (legacy) OBSOLETE
2,600
Era reflects armor generation, not raw count — e.g. North Korea's tank fleet is numerically large but almost entirely Cold War-era T-55/T-62 derivatives, while a much smaller modern Advanced-era fleet (M1A2 Abrams, Leopard 2A7, K2 Black Panther class) typically outmatches it on paper.
Naval Power
⚓Naval Fleet Modernity
UNKNOWNInsufficient data
Regional Context — Eastern Asia
North Korea ranks #3 of 4 in Eastern Asia on the composite power index. Bars are relative index scores; follow any row to that country's profile.
Compare North Korea 18 matchups
North Korea vs United StatesNorth Korea vs RussiaNorth Korea vs ChinaNorth Korea vs IndiaNorth Korea vs South KoreaNorth Korea vs JapanNorth Korea vs TürkiyeNorth Korea vs Saudi ArabiaNorth Korea vs IranNorth Korea vs PakistanNorth Korea vs EgyptNorth Korea vs GermanyNorth Korea vs VietnamNorth Korea vs FranceNorth Korea vs United KingdomNorth Korea vs United Arab EmiratesNorth Korea vs IsraelNorth Korea vs Ukraine
Want a matchup not listed — or North Korea against a whole coalition? Open the Alliance Builder to pick any countries and stack multiple against one.
Economic confidence: Low. Military confidence: Low. Ranks shown as "#x of y" count only countries with a reported value for that metric. The composite power index averages the six category scores (log-scaled against the world leader per metric) and is this site's own model — not an official rating.