China vs India: Military personnel

China
2.04 million people
in 2022
India
1.46 million people
in 2022
China rank
1st
India rank
2nd

Military personnel over time

  • China
  • India
01.0M2.0M3.0M4.0M5.0M186019412022

How they compare

China currently reports 2.04 million people against 1.46 million people in India, a difference of 575,000 people.

That makes China's figure about 1.4 times India's.

Across all 76 years both countries report, China has been ahead every year.

China ranks 1st and India ranks 2nd of 194 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Military personnel
Unit
people
Source
Correlates of War - National Material Capabilities Version 7.0 (2026) – with minor processing by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
194 places, 15,765 data points, 1816–2022
Last refreshed

Troops under the command of the national government, intended for use against foreign adversaries, and held ready for combat as of January 1 of the given year.