HEAD TO HEAD
France vs United Kingdom
Verdict
France and United Kingdom are close to evenly matched, 49–51 on the Relative Advantage Index.
France leads on nuclear warheads (56% of the combined total, 290) and active personnel (58% of the combined total, 203.0k), which United Kingdom offsets elsewhere.
Factor by factor
| Factor | France | Share | United Kingdom | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $68.0bn | 43%57% | $89.0bn | 25% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $3.2tn | 46%54% | $3.7tn | 20% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 203.0k | 58%42% | 150.0k | 15% |
Nuclear warheads FAS Nuclear Notebook | 290 | 56%44% | 225 | 25% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 200 | 42%58% | 272 | 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.
