HEAD TO HEAD
North Korea vs Pakistan
Verdict
Pakistan holds a 69–31 advantage over North Korea on the Relative Advantage Index, a clear margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (88% of the combined total, $11.9bn) and nuclear warheads (77% of the combined total, 170). North Korea leads on active personnel.
1 factor — economic size (GDP) — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | North Korea | Share | Pakistan | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $1.6bn | 12%88% | $11.9bn | 31% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 1.3m | 66%34% | 652.0k | 19% |
Nuclear warheads FAS Nuclear Notebook | 50 | 23%77% | 170 | 31% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 27 | 40%60% | 41 | 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.
