HEAD TO HEAD
China vs North Korea
Verdict
China holds a 89–11 advantage over North Korea on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (100% of the combined total, $336bn) and nuclear warheads (92% of the combined total, 600).
1 factor — economic size (GDP) — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side. Those factors are excluded and the remaining weights renormalised, never substituted.
Factor by factor
| Factor | China | Share | North Korea | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $336bn | 100%0% | $1.6bn | 31% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 2.0m | 61%39% | 1.3m | 19% |
Nuclear warheads FAS Nuclear Notebook | 600 | 92%8% | 50 | 31% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 402 | 94%6% | 27 | 19% |
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.
