Military Strength: Benin vs Gambia

Benin (ranked #145 globally) holds a stronger overall military position than Gambia (#161) on the ARMS Index. Benin fields 12,000 active troops — 3.0:1 Gambia's 4,000, backed by 4,800 paramilitary. Benin's $0.2B defense budget is 10:1 that of Gambia ($0.01B).

ARMS (Aggregate Rating of Military Strength) Index face-off Full ranking →

BeninWorld #145 10.4

ARMS Index / 100

Benin leads on 3 of 6 pillars

GambiaWorld #161 5.8

45.012K active troops Manpower15 % 27.64,000 active troops
0.00 battle tanks Ground forces20 % 0.00 battle tanks
0.00 warships Naval power20 % 0.00 warships
14.20 combat aircraft Air power25 % 7.91 combat aircraft
0.00 warheads Nuclear deterrent10 % 0.00 warheads
20.0$150M budget Defense budget10 % 7.6$14M budget

Benin Gambia Pillar scores 0–100 (weight under each label) over a headline figure from that domain · readiness modifier ×0.96 vs ×0.95 · Methodology

Key figures

	Benin	Gambia	Ratio
Defense budget	$150M	$14M	🇧🇯 10×
– share of GDP	0.7%	0.6%	🇧🇯 1.2×
Active personnel	12,000	4,000	🇧🇯 3.0×
Combat aircraft	0	1	🇬🇲
Warships	0	0	—
– submarines	0	0	—
Main battle tanks	0	0	—
Nuclear warheads	0	0	—

Show full breakdown · 11 more rowsHide the 11 extra rows

Reserve troops	0	0	—
Paramilitary forces	4,800	0	🇧🇯
Military aircraft (all types)	11	1	🇧🇯 11×
– helicopters	9	0	🇧🇯
Budget share of govt spending	—	—	—
Budget per capita	$10	$5	🇧🇯 2.0×
Population	14.5M	2.8M	🇧🇯 5.2×
GDP	$21B	$2.4B	🇧🇯 8.9×
GDP per capita	$1,485	$871	🇧🇯 1.7×
Land area	114,305 km²	10,000 km²	🇧🇯 11×
Coastline	121 km	80 km	🇧🇯 1.5×