Sign In
  • Best Buys
  • Household Money
  • Banking & Borrowing
  • Mortgages & Home
  • Saving & Making Money
  • Rights, Scams & Politics
  • Motoring & Travel
  • Investing & Pensions
  • Savings & ISAs
  • Features
  • Compare

America's defence budget versus North Korea’s

The two countries' military spending compared
America's annual military budget stands at $824.6 billion (£628.7bn)
North Korea's annual military budget stands at up to $10 billion (£7.6bn)
The US has the world's largest defence budget – by far
North Korea's defence budget is the world's 46th largest
Defence spending represents 3.3% of America's GDP
Defence spending represents 22% of North Korea's GDP
US defence spending is the second-largest government expenditure
North Korea defence spending is the largest government expenditure
The US military has 1.3 million active personnel and 811,000 reservists
The North Korean military has around 1 million active personnel and 600,000 reservists
The US spends $20 billion (£15.3bn) a year on nuclear weapons
North Korea's entire nuclear programme costs up to $3 billion (£2.3bn)
The US boasts more than 6,800 nuclear warheads
North Korea boasts an estimated 60 nuclear warheads
The US military has access to the world's most advanced military technology
North Korea has to make to do with outdated military technology
The US Army has 51,510 advanced key assets
The Korean People's Army has 18,705 not so advanced key assets
The US Air Force has a total of 13,762 state-of-the-art aircraft
The Korean People's Army Air Force has 944 ageing aircraft
The US Navy has aircraft carriers, destroyers, and more
The Korean People's Navy has to get by with frigates
The US military has thousands of ballistic missiles at its disposal
North Korea is believed to possess 1,000 ballistic missiles
The US spends 0.8% of its defence budget fighting cyber warfare
North Korea spends an estimated 20% of its defence budget waging cyber warfare
1 of 27
Gerasimov Foto 174/Shutterstock

The two countries' military spending compared

Kim Jong-un can ramp up the warmongering rhetoric and threaten to carry out further nuclear bomb tests but how much firepower does North Korea actually have compared to the US? We take a closer look at the two countries' vastly different military budgets.
Gallery view |
List View

lovemoney staff

11 October 2017

Features

See more on this topic

Share the love