HEAD TO HEAD
North Korea vs Vietnam
Verdict
Vietnam holds a 63–37 advantage over North Korea on the Relative Advantage Index, a clear margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (87% of the combined total, $10.5bn) and logistics & power projection (58% of the combined total, 38). North Korea leads on active personnel.
2 factors — economic size (GDP), nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | North Korea | Share | Vietnam | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $1.6bn | 13%87% | $10.5bn | 45% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 1.3m | 73%27% | 482.0k | 27% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 27 | 42%58% | 38 | 27% |
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.
