Military Strength: Benin vs Nigeria

Nigeria (ranked #58 globally) holds a stronger overall military position than Benin (#146) on the ATLAS Index. Nigeria fields 223,000 active troops — 19:1 Benin's 12,000, backed by 80,000 paramilitary. Nigeria's $1.5B defense budget is 10:1 that of Benin ($0.2B).

ATLAS (Aggregate Total of Land, Air and Sea strength) Index face-off Full ranking →

BeninWorld #146 7.0

ATLAS Index / 100

Nigeria leads on 5 of 6 pillars

NigeriaWorld #58 26.3

21.712K active troops Manpower10 % 47.1223K active troops
0.00 battle tanks Ground forces20 % 34.1330 battle tanks
0.00 warships Naval power20 % 22.9147 warships
12.20 combat aircraft Air power25 % 24.636 combat aircraft
0.00 warheads Nuclear deterrent10 % 0.00 warheads
11.3$150M budget Defense budget15 % 24.8$1.5B budget

Benin Nigeria Pillar scores 0–100 (weight under each label) over a headline figure from that domain · each conventional pillar read after its branch's availability proxy · Methodology

Key figures

	Benin	Nigeria	Ratio
Defense budget	$150M	$1.5B	🇳🇬 10×
– share of GDP	0.7%	0.6%	🇧🇯 1.2×
Active personnel	12,000	223,000	🇳🇬 19×
Combat aircraft	0	36	🇳🇬
Warships	0	147	🇳🇬
– submarines	0	0	—
Main battle tanks	0	330	🇳🇬
Nuclear warheads	0	0	—

Show full breakdown · 11 more rowsHide the 11 extra rows

Reserve troops	0	0	—
Paramilitary forces	4,800	80,000	🇳🇬 17×
Military aircraft (all types)	11	182	🇳🇬 17×
– helicopters	9	73	🇳🇬 8.1×
Budget share of govt spending	—	—	—
Budget per capita	$10	$7	🇧🇯 1.6×
Population	14.5M	232.7M	🇳🇬 16×
GDP	$21B	$252B	🇳🇬 12×
GDP per capita	$1,485	$1,084	🇧🇯 1.4×
Land area	114,305 km²	910,768 km²	🇳🇬 8.0×
Coastline	121 km	853 km	🇳🇬 7.0×