Last updated on January 15th, 2024 at 10:03 am
The African continent has many regions with diverse populations. Which African nation has the largest armed forces? Using data from World Population Review, we have ranked the military powers of Africa by country from strongest to weakest.
Table of Contents
Top 10 strongest African military
1. Egypt
Egypt has the strongest military in Africa. The PwrIndx Score of Egypt is 0.187. Egypt has 1.3 million total personnel. Out of these, 438.5K are active and 479K are on the reserve. The Egyptian air force has 240 F-16 Fighting Falcon fighters, which are popular across the world.
2. Algeria
Algeria has the second-strongest military in Africa. Algeria has 467.2K total military personnel. Out of these, 130K are active and 150K are on the reserve. The country spends on average six per cent of its GDP on the military.
3. Morocco
Morocco has the third-strongest African military in 2024. It has 395.8K total military personnel. Out of these, 195.8K are active and 150K are on the reserve. The country spent $6.17 billion of its GDP on the military.
Also Read: Top 10 Biggest Townships In South Africa
4. Eritrea
Eritrea has one of the best militaries in Africa. It has 321.8K total military personnel. Out of these, 201.8K are active and 120K are on the reserve. The Eritrean Air Force has 19 aircraft. It has 700 battle tanks.
5. Nigeria
Nigeria has one of the strongest militaries in Africa. It has 223K total military personnel. Out of these, 143K are active and have no reserve personnel. Nigeria spent about 2.41 trillion nairas ($5.9 billion) for defence in 2022.
6. Sudan
The Sudanese military is one of the strongest in Africa in 2023. Sudan has 209.3K total military personnel. Out of these, 104.3K is active and has no reserve personnel. Sudan has 46 fighter aircraft, 38 attack aircraft, 43 attack helicopters and 690 combat tanks.
7. South Sudan
South Sudan has the seventh-strongest military in Africa. South Sudan has 185K active military personnel. It has 12 self-propelled guns and 7 rocket projectors. It budgeted more than $2.47 Billion for defence in 2022.
Also Read: 7 Worst (lowest) performing currencies in Africa
8. Ethiopia
Ethiopia has one of the strongest military strengths in Africa. It has 138K active military personnel. Ethiopia was the first African nation to defeat a modern European army. It had over 400 battle tanks.
9. DR Congo
DR Congo has one of the strongest military strengths in Africa. It has 134.3K active military personnel. DR Congo has the Congolese Army, the Congolese Air Force, the Congolese Marine and the Congolese National Gendarmerie.
10. Angola
Angola has one of the strongest militaries in Africa. It has 117K total military personnel. Out of these, 107K are active military personnel. It spent around $1.06 billion on defence in 2022. The country has 1,210 Armored Vehicles.
This is the list of the top 10 strongest militaries in Africa.
