The Army of Uzbekistan has risen five positions in the global ranking. In the ranking of the strongest armies in the world, compiled by analysts at the Global Firepower center, the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan ranked 53rd out of 145 positions. Thus, the country has the strongest army in Central Asia. In this ranking, Kazakhstan […]
The Army of Uzbekistan has risen five positions in the global ranking.
In the ranking of the strongest armies in the world, compiled by analysts at the Global Firepower center, the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan ranked 53rd out of 145 positions. Thus, the country has the strongest army in Central Asia.
In this ranking, Kazakhstan took 58th place, Turkmenistan – 78th, Tajikistan – 100th, Kyrgyzstan – 109th, and Afghanistan took 121st position.
According to Global Firepower, there are about 120,000 military personnel in the Armed Forces of Uzbekistan, of which approximately 95,000 serve in the ground forces.
The air force consists of 159 aircraft, 101 helicopters, of which 34 are attack helicopters. The Army of Uzbekistan also has 470 tanks, 259 of which are in combat readiness. The total number of armored vehicles is about 8,700 units, including armored personnel carriers, artillery systems, and multiple launch rocket systems.
Nearly 19 million people are included in the category of working and mobilization force, with over 15.9 million citizens deemed fit for military service.
Tajikistan ranked 100th in the Global Firepower ranking for 2026, improving its position compared to 2025, when the country was in 108th place. The number of military personnel in the Armed Forces of Tajikistan is estimated at about 9,000 to 9,500 people. The army has about 6,700 units of armored vehicles, including tanks, armored personnel carriers, and artillery systems.
According to Global Firepower, Uzbekistan’s defense budget exceeds $2.5 billion, while Tajikistan’s defense spending is estimated at about $450 million.
Experts note that despite improving its position in the global ranking, Tajikistan remains the weakest country in military terms. According to their assessments, under the complex international situation, the modernization of the country’s army does not meet the requirements.
The Global Firepower website calculates the military strength of countries based on 60 indicators, including modern weapons, economic stability, geostrategic advantages, the number of military personnel, natural resources, logistics, and more. The ranking reflects the potential of countries to conduct prolonged defensive and offensive operations. The top ten in the ranking includes the USA, Russia, China, India, South Korea, France, Japan, the United Kingdom, Turkey, and Italy.
The military power ranking highlights the limitations of Tajikistan’s military budget. This is despite the fact that at the end of 2023, the country’s president, Emomali Rahmon, purchased a new aircraft worth over $92 million for official trips, which has drawn mixed assessments from experts. Many believe that in the allocation of state expenditures, priority is often given to the personal needs of President Rahmon rather than to the development of the army and other strategically important areas.