Estimated reading time: 2 minutes
Over the past year, Poland has moved up four positions and is ranked 20th among the world’s military powers in the latest edition of the Global Firepower ranking. The ranking measures the military potential of 145 countries worldwide. The USA is in first place, followed by Russia in second place and China in third place. India, the UK, South Korea, Pakistan, Japan, France and Italy follow.
Ukraine, struggling against Russian aggression, was ranked 15th, having been 22nd last year, the 2023 report announced at the beginning of January shows.
Poland was ahead of Spain, Saudi Arabia and Taiwan, among others, on the list.
The ranking is based on each country’s potential capability to wage war on land, sea and air using conventional means.
In calculating each country’s position, more than 60 different indicators were taken into account, ranging from the number of armaments to the financing of armed forces, logistical capabilities and geographical conditions, the study’s website says.
However, the criteria adopted in the compilation are debatable, comments the Spanish portal Vozpopuli. Experts criticise that the report does not take into account the age of the military means available in the country, only their total number, in addition to not taking into account technological or qualitative differences, the portal enumerates.
For example, a country with a wide range of combat vehicles that have not been used for decades can overtake a country with a smaller number of more modern units in this category, Vozpopuli writes.
Such accusations mainly concern second-ranked Russia, the portal emphasises. It assesses that in the war with Ukraine, Russia was unable to demonstrate its military might and was dragged into a longer-than-planned conflict with no prospect of an imminent conclusion.
Read also: