United States, Russia And China: Which Countries Have The Most Powerful Armies In The World? [MAPS]

The United States has the most powerful army in the world, but Russia isn’t far behind, according to a just-released index that measures a government’s military strength from Global Firepower (GFP).

China came in third in GFP’s ranking, followed by India and the United Kingdom.

The index measures the strength of 106 governments based on more than 50 indicators, including manpower, access to resources, defense budgets and geographical factors.

However, the index does not take into account nuclear capability, only “each nation’s potential war-making capabilities across land, sea and air,” according to the GFP report.

Here’s a map of the top 10 nations with the most powerful armies. Click on any country to see a few key stats.

Here are a few things to keep in mind about how the index was developed, according to the GFP:

• Nuclear capability is NOT taken into account

• Geographical factors influence every country's ranking

• Ranking does not solely rely on total number of weapons available

• Natural resource reliance (use/production) is taken into account

• Land-locked nations are NOT penalized for lack of a standing navy

• Naval powers ARE penalized for limited naval capabilities

• Current political/military leadership is NOT taken into account

Here’s a map of all 106 countries in the index, color-coded based on their score on the index. Click on any country to see its rank and score.