Statizoid

China vs India: Armed forces personnel

China
2.54 million
in 2020
India
3.07 million
in 2020
China rank
2nd
India rank
1st

Armed forces personnel over time

  • China
  • India
1.0M2.0M3.0M4.0M198520022020

How they compare

India currently reports 3.07 million against 2.54 million in China, a difference of 533,000.

That makes India's figure about 1.2 times China's.

The two have swapped places 1 time across 33 shared years of data; in 1985 it was China ahead.

China ranks 2nd and India ranks 1st of 173 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Armed forces personnel
Source
The Military Balance - International Institute for Strategic Studies, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
173 places, 5,352 data points, 1985–2020
Last refreshed

Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if their training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces.