Military Strength: Benin vs Sierra Leone

Benin (ranked #145 globally) holds a stronger overall military position than Sierra Leone (#159) on the ARMS Index. Benin fields 12,000 active troops vs 9,000 for Sierra Leone, backed by 4,800 paramilitary. Benin's $0.2B defense budget is 4.3:1 that of Sierra Leone ($0.03B).

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

Sierra LeoneWorld #159 6.5

45.012K active troops Manpower15 % 44.89,000 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 % 2.80 combat aircraft
0.00 warheads Nuclear deterrent10 % 0.00 warheads
20.0$150M budget Defense budget10 % 11.6$35M budget

Benin Sierra Leone Pillar scores 0–100 (weight under each label) over a headline figure from that domain · readiness modifier ×0.96 vs ×0.85 · Methodology

Key figures

	Benin	Sierra Leone	Ratio
Defense budget	$150M	$35M	🇧🇯 4.3×
– share of GDP	0.7%	0.5%	🇧🇯 1.4×
Active personnel	12,000	9,000	🇧🇯 1.3×
Combat aircraft	0	0	—
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	1	🇧🇯 9.0×
Budget share of govt spending	—	—	—
Budget per capita	$10	$4	🇧🇯 2.6×
Population	14.5M	8.6M	🇧🇯 1.7×
GDP	$21B	$7B	🇧🇯 3.1×
GDP per capita	$1,485	$807	🇧🇯 1.8×
Land area	114,305 km²	71,620 km²	🇧🇯 1.6×
Coastline	121 km	402 km	🇸🇱 3.3×