Military Strength: Malawi vs Sierra Leone

Malawi (ranked #149 globally) holds a stronger overall military position than Sierra Leone (#159) on the ARMS Index. Malawi fields 15,000 active troops vs 9,000 for Sierra Leone, backed by 4,200 paramilitary. Malawi's $0.09B defense budget is 2.6:1 that of Sierra Leone ($0.03B).

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

MalawiWorld #149 9.8

ARMS Index / 100

Malawi leads on 3 of 6 pillars

Sierra LeoneWorld #159 6.5

47.615K 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
13.80 combat aircraft Air power25 % 2.80 combat aircraft
0.00 warheads Nuclear deterrent10 % 0.00 warheads
16.9$90M budget Defense budget10 % 11.6$35M budget

Malawi Sierra Leone Pillar scores 0–100 (weight under each label) over a headline figure from that domain · readiness modifier ×0.90 vs ×0.85 · Methodology

Key figures

	Malawi	Sierra Leone	Ratio
Defense budget	$90M	$35M	🇲🇼 2.6×
– share of GDP	0.8%	0.5%	🇲🇼 1.6×
Active personnel	15,000	9,000	🇲🇼 1.7×
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)	11	1	🇲🇼 11×
– helicopters	8	1	🇲🇼 8.0×
Budget share of govt spending	—	—	—
Budget per capita	$4	$4	🇲🇼 ≈
Population	21.7M	8.6M	🇲🇼 2.5×
GDP	$11B	$7B	🇲🇼 1.6×
GDP per capita	$523	$807	🇸🇱 1.5×
Land area	94,080 km²	71,620 km²	🇲🇼 1.3×
Coastline	0 km	402 km	🇸🇱