Military Strength: Malawi vs Sierra Leone

Malawi (ranked #144 globally) holds a stronger overall military position than Sierra Leone (#156) on the ATLAS Index. Malawi fields 10,700 active troops vs 8,500 for Sierra Leone, backed by 4,200 paramilitary. Malawi's $0.09B defense budget is 2.6:1 that of Sierra Leone ($0.03B).

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

MalawiWorld #144 7.1

ATLAS Index / 100

Malawi leads on 3 of 6 pillars

Sierra LeoneWorld #156 4.8

23.510K active troops Manpower10 % 21.68,500 active troops
0.00 battle tanks Ground forces20 % 0.00 battle tanks
0.00 warships Naval power20 % 0.00 warships
12.90 combat aircraft Air power25 % 5.80 combat aircraft
0.00 warheads Nuclear deterrent10 % 0.00 warheads
10.0$90M budget Defense budget15 % 7.8$35M budget

Malawi Sierra Leone 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

	Malawi	Sierra Leone	Ratio
Defense budget	$90M	$35M	🇲🇼 2.6×
– share of GDP	0.8%	0.5%	🇲🇼 1.6×
Active personnel	10,700	8,500	🇲🇼 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	4,200	0	🇲🇼
Military aircraft (all types)	12	1	🇲🇼 12×
– helicopters	8	1	🇲🇼 8.0×
Budget share of govt spending	—	—	—
Budget per capita	$4	$4	🇲🇼 ≈
Population	22.2M	8.8M	🇲🇼 2.5×
GDP	$15B	$7.5B	🇲🇼 2.0×
GDP per capita	$672	$846	🇸🇱 1.3×
Land area	94,080 km²	71,620 km²	🇲🇼 1.3×
Coastline	0 km	402 km	🇸🇱