美国军队在预算规模和战争技术雄心方面可能领先世界，但有一项指标显示它被其他国家远远甩在身后。根据国际战略研究所（IISS）2026年《军事平衡》报告的数据，《商业内幕》按2025年现役武装部队规模对全球前25个国家进行了排名，并列出了它们同年的国防预算。现役兵力规模是指一个国家身穿制服的部队总数：飞行员、陆军士兵、水兵、特种作战人员和海军陆战队员。
The US military may lead the world in budget size and in the ambitions of its warfare technology, but there is one measure by which it is outsized by other nations. Using data from the International Institute for Strategic Studies' 2026 Military Balance report, Business Insider ranked the top 25 countries by the size of their active armed forces during 2025 and listed their defense budgets that same year. Active-duty force size is a tally of a country's uniformed troops: airmen, soldiers, sailors, special operators, and Marines.
特别是陆军，依靠规模在武装冲突中夺取并占领阵地。军队也可以成为国内镇压的工具。例如，朝鲜是世界上最压迫性的国家之一，由一名独裁者统治，他曾多次威胁邻国韩国——朝鲜同时也拥有世界上最大的军队之一。现役军人数量远非衡量国家间军事实力对比的唯一因素，但它反映了潜在实力。“兵力数量有其价值，但军事能力远不止于此，”总部位于华盛顿特区的外交政策和国家安全智库战略与国际研究中心（CSIS）高级顾问马克·坎西安对《商业内幕》表示。
Armies, in particular, depend on size to gain and occupy ground during armed conflicts. Militaries can also be a tool of domestic repression. North Korea, for example, is one of the world's most repressive states, led by a dictator who has repeatedly threatened neighboring South Korea — and it also has one of the world's largest militaries. The number of active-duty military personnel is far from the only factor that matters when comparing military power between countries, but it reflects latent power. "Numbers have value, but there's a lot more to military capability," Mark Cancian, a senior advisor at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, a Washington, DC-based foreign policy and national security think tank, told Business Insider.
总部位于伦敦的智库国际战略研究所在其分析中将现役武装部队、预备役人员和准军事力量作为单独类别进行统计，从而呈现出各国人力资源的更完整图景。一些国家的预备役人数远多于其他国家——越南拥有世界上最多的预备役，估计达500万——但其专业技能的质量和保持时间因体制而异。“当你看一些国家的预备役数字时，往往看到的是10年或20年都没训练过的人，”坎西安说。
IISS, a London-headquartered think tank, counts active armed forces, reservists, and paramilitaries as separate categories in its analysis, showing a fuller picture of each nation's manpower. Some countries have significantly more reservists than others — Vietnam has the largest number in the world, estimated at 5 million — but the quality and longevity of their expertise can vary between systems. "When you look at some countries' reserve numbers, you're often looking at people who haven't trained in 10 or 20 years," Cancian said.
“它给你一个大数字，但其军事价值值得商榷。”即使把一支军队的所有人力都算上，人员也只是决定一国军事实力的因素之一，其他因素还包括装备和备战状态。此外，全球战争中技术的作用、空军和海军舰队的规模与先进程度、登陆突击部队的两栖作战能力、指挥控制系统以及核力量，所有这些都塑造着军事力量。尽管如此，对比全球兵力能让人洞察各国如何优先发展军事力量。请看世界上最大的几支军队在现役部队人数方面如何比较。
"It gives you a big number, but their military value is questionable." Even when accounting for all of a military's manpower, personnel is only one of the factors that can qualify a nation's military strength, which also includes equipment and readiness. There's also the role of technologies in global warfare, the size and sophistication of air forces and naval fleets, amphibious capabilities for landing assault forces, command-and-control systems, and nuclear forces, all of which shape military power. Still, comparing global manpower offers insight into how countries prioritize military power. See how the world's largest militaries stack up in terms of active troop numbers.