India vs China: Explaining Military Strength Beyond Numbers
NDTV
China is the biggest spender on defence in Asia. In the financial year 2023-2024, India allocated $73.9 billion, while China reserved $229 Billion of its budget for the military.
India has been ranked as the fourth strongest military in the world, just after China, according to the Global Firepower Index, a platform that analyses data based on factors that determine a nation's war-fighting capability.
China is the biggest spender on defence in Asia. In the financial year 2023-2024, India allocated $73.9 billion, while China reserved $229 Billion of its budget for the military. The Centre for Strategic and Investment Studies (CSIS), a US-based think tank, has said China's defence budget is higher than the published figures.
According to the Global Firepower Index, China's defence budget is the second highest globally and India stands at number four. The huge gap between India and China should be attributed to the difference in the size of GDPs. India is the fifth-largest economy and spends 13 per cent of its annual budget on defence. Meanwhile, China is the second largest economy in the world.
