Bangladesh goes down two notches in military strength

Bangladesh has gone down two notches in global military power. International research organization Global Firepower (GFP), which is based on military capabilities, has released this index for 2026 this week after reviewing the data for 2025.

The organization said in its report that one of the most important factors in this ranking is the military budget of the country concerned. The size of the army, navy and air force strength were also considered in the study.

According to the Global Firepower index, the United States is at the top of the world in terms of military strength, followed by Russia, China, India and South Korea. Despite being a nuclear power, Pakistan also went down two places and stood at number 14. Bangladesh is at 37th position on the list. This time, neighboring Myanmar has surpassed Bangladesh to reach at 35th position.

Bangladesh was ranked 35th in the 2025 Global Firepower index, 37th in 2024, and 40th in the previous year, 2023. That is, Bangladesh's military power increased five times in two years, but it fell back the following year.

The report said that the total population of Bangladesh is more than 160 million. Of these, about 66.1 million people are eligible to join the military. The total number of soldiers in the Bangladesh military is 163,000. The Bangladesh Air Force has 17,400 members and the Navy has 25,100 soldiers.

On the other hand, the total population of Myanmar is 57.5 million. Of these, about 22 million people are eligible to join the military. The active military force of Myanmar is 150,000. Myanmar has 20,000 reserve soldiers. The country has 15,000 members in the air force and 16,000 soldiers in the navy.