HEAD TO HEAD
Eritrea vs Ethiopia
Verdict
Ethiopia holds a 80–20 advantage over Eritrea on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by economic size (GDP) (99% of the combined total, $150bn) and military spending (74% of the combined total, $528m).
1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | Eritrea | Share | Ethiopia | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $182m | 26%74% | $528m | 33% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $2.1bn | 1%99% | $150bn | 27% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 302.0k | 38%62% | 503.0k | 20% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 3 | 16%84% | 16 | 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.
