Militaries of the World

Where's the largest military in the world? China? The US? Nope. North Korea. Yep, the Hermit Kingdom has the largest military in the world including active duty and reserve.

1. Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) - 8.2 million

• about 4.5 million active duty (still impressive for a nation of 25 million people!)

• 3 + million 'paramilitary' 

• that's like 1/4 of its population since North Korea has 25 million people

2. Socialist Republic of Vietnam - 5.04 million

• yep, that's right

• they are a lot of volunteers as Vietnam is surrounded by China, Laos, Cambodia and must protect itself

3. Republic of Korea (South Korea) - 2.9 million

• no surprise here

• they have their little rowdy neighbor, North Korea

4. Russian Federation - 2.5 million

• honestly Russia probably could have more people as it is the largest country in the world and has problems with its neighbors and internally like Chechnya

• they do have a lot of technology though, so that probably makes up for it

5. People's Republic of China - 2.3 million

• you would think they would have more people as it has such a large population and has to deal with many issues internally like in Xinjiang and Tibet

• however, China's military is pretty sophisticated so that makes up for it

• a lot of land and people to protect

• still the largest active duty military in the world

6. People's Republic of Bangladesh 2.28

• it's such a small country though

• they really don't have that many conflicts with its neighbors

7. Republic of India - 2.14 million

• India's military will no doubt increase a lot as it has already grown so much in the past few decades

• military budget will definitely increase a lot as India becomes more democratic and further embraces free-market capitalism

8. The Islamic Republic of Iran - 1.8 million

• I mean, Iran is sandwiched in the middle of the Middle East...

• all of its neighbors have problems

• also, it's competing with Saudi Arabia for spheres of influences

• they also want to prevent Western influences from coming in

• remember the Iranian Revolution?

9. Federative Republic of Brazil - 1.8 million

• the largest nation in South America has a lot of land to protect

• very powerful nation that dominates much of South America's economy

• thankfully not a lot of conflicts with neighbors

10. Republic of China - 1.68 million

• that's impressive considering the population is about 23 million

• they have a right to fight for themselves, I mean they still struggle with international identity

• regardless of whether or not its a part of China, it still has a large military for its small land area

That's only in sheer number though. When we look at actual power, you can imagine that North Korea will fall pretty low.

1. The United States

• no surprise

• after all, we have the largest military budget in the world

• being the world's police comes at a cost

2. Russian Federation

• also no surprise

3. People's Republic of China

• no surprise

• it will only get stronger as China's economy booms

• it has already been increasing its military budget by about 12% each year

4. Republic of India

• again, India makes the list

5. United Kingdom

• well historically, the UK has been a strong military force

• remember colonization?

6. French Republic

• same with France 

7. Federal Republic of Germany

• and Germany

8. Republic of Turkey

• Turkey is actually quite a strong nation at the crossroads of Europe and the Middle East

9. North Korea

• no surprise here when a fourth of your nation is in the military

10. Japan

• what...Japan? I thought they couldn't have an army

• they don't, but they have a really strong reserve force

• don't forget, they have to worry about North Korea as well

http://www.therichest.com/rich-list/the-10-biggest-reserve-militaries-in-the-world/http://www.businessinsider.com/11-most-powerful-militaries-in-the-world-2014-4http://www.worldatlas.com/articles/29-largest-armies-in-the-world.html