Military Strength: Nicaragua vs Uruguay

Uruguay (ranked #94 globally) holds a stronger overall military position than Nicaragua (#119) on the ARMS Index. Nicaragua fields 12,000 active troops vs 22,000 for Uruguay, backed by 1,400 paramilitary. Uruguay's $1.7B defense budget is 17:1 that of Nicaragua ($0.10B).

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

NicaraguaWorld #119 17.0

ARMS Index / 100

Uruguay leads on 3 of 6 pillars

UruguayWorld #94 22.2

47.612K active troops Manpower15 % 52.422K active troops
44.989 battle tanks Ground forces20 % 35.631 battle tanks
0.00 warships Naval power20 % 0.00 warships
14.20 combat aircraft Air power25 % 22.14 combat aircraft
0.00 warheads Nuclear deterrent10 % 0.00 warheads
17.4$98M budget Defense budget10 % 37.5$1.7B budget

Nicaragua Uruguay Pillar scores 0–100 (weight under each label) over a headline figure from that domain · readiness modifier ×0.90 vs ×1.05 · Methodology

Key figures

	Nicaragua	Uruguay	Ratio
Defense budget	$98M	$1.7B	🇺🇾 17×
– share of GDP	0.5%	2.1%	🇺🇾 4.2×
Active personnel	12,000	22,000	🇺🇾 1.8×
Combat aircraft	0	4	🇺🇾
Warships	0	0	—
– submarines	0	0	—
Main battle tanks	89	31	🇳🇮 2.9×
Nuclear warheads	0	0	—

Show full breakdown · 11 more rowsHide the 11 extra rows

Reserve troops	0	0	—
Paramilitary forces	0	1,400	🇺🇾
Military aircraft (all types)	17	46	🇺🇾 2.7×
– helicopters	11	15	🇺🇾 1.4×
Budget share of govt spending	—	—	—
Budget per capita	$14	$502	🇺🇾 35×
Population	6.9M	3.4M	🇳🇮 2.0×
GDP	$20B	$81B	🇺🇾 4.1×
GDP per capita	$2,848	$23,907	🇺🇾 8.4×
Land area	119,990 km²	175,015 km²	🇺🇾 1.5×
Coastline	910 km	660 km	🇳🇮 1.4×