HEAD TO HEAD
El Salvador vs Guatemala
Verdict
Guatemala holds a 59–41 advantage over El Salvador on the Relative Advantage Index.
The margin is driven by economic size (GDP) (76% of the combined total, $113bn) and military spending (56% of the combined total, $633m). El Salvador leads on active personnel.
1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | El Salvador | Share | Guatemala | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $490m | 44%56% | $633m | 33% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $35.4bn | 24%76% | $113bn | 27% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 25.0k | 58%42% | 18.0k | 20% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 5 | 42%58% | 7 | 20% |
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.
