HEAD TO HEAD
China vs Russia
Verdict
China holds a 54–46 advantage over Russia on the Relative Advantage Index.
The margin is driven by economic size (GDP) (90% of the combined total, $18.7tn) and military spending (64% of the combined total, $336bn). Russia leads on nuclear warheads.
Factor by factor
| Factor | China | Share | Russia | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $336bn | 64%36% | $190bn | 25% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $18.7tn | 90%10% | $2.2tn | 20% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 2.0m | 63%37% | 1.2m | 15% |
Nuclear warheads FAS Nuclear Notebook | 600 | 10%90% | 5.5k | 25% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 402 | 57%43% | 307 | 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.
