HEAD TO HEAD
China vs India
Verdict
China holds a 75–25 advantage over India on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (78% of the combined total, $336bn) and nuclear warheads (77% of the combined total, 600).
Factor by factor
| Factor | China | Share | India | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $336bn | 78%22% | $92.1bn | 25% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $18.7tn | 83%17% | $3.9tn | 20% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 2.0m | 58%42% | 1.5m | 15% |
Nuclear warheads FAS Nuclear Notebook | 600 | 77%23% | 180 | 25% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 402 | 73%27% | 146 | 15% |
Shares are each side's portion of the combined total for that factor. Weights are renormalised across the factors both sides publish — see the methodology. Data read 2026-10-22.
