Pakistan Air Force JF-17 Thunder flies in front of Nanga Parbat, 28 May 2015. (Asuspine/Wikimedia Commons)

Pakistan Takes Top Spot in Military Firepower Rankings for MENA Region

Steven Ganot

01/16/2023

Pakistan’s military remains the strongest in the Middle East and North Africa region and globally has climbed two notches from ninth to seventh place, according to Global Fire Power (GFP), an organization that provides analytical data and information on the military capabilities of countries worldwide. GFP has just released its Military Strength Rankings for 2023.

Regarding Pakistan, it notes that “our increased focus on natural resources (natural gas; coal) and shared borders for the new year have also helped to improve its overall standing on the world stage.”

GFP’s Military Strength Rankings is an annual ranking of countries based on their military strength. The ranking takes into account a variety of factors such as total population, active military personnel, available manpower, land systems, air power, naval power, financials, logistics, and natural resources. The ranking is intended to provide a general overview of a country’s military capabilities and is not meant to be a definitive or absolute measure of a country’s military strength.

The ranking includes 145 countries, is based on publicly available data, and may not take into account classified or secret information. It is often used as a reference by military analysts, government officials, and the media to understand the relative military strength of countries around the world.

After Pakistan, the highest-ranked country in the MENA region is Turkey, which is ranked 11th globally, followed by Egypt (14th), Iran (17th), and Israel (18th).

GFP ranked the military of Iran’s archrival Saudi Arabia as the sixth most powerful in the MENA region.

Algeria’s military capabilities are ranked seventh for the MENA region and are the strongest in North Africa.

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