United States of America vs Vatican City Military Comparison
Side-by-side military strength: active personnel, defense budgets, air force aircraft, and naval assets.
United States of America
1M active troops
$800B budget
VS
Vatican City
100 active troops
$10000000 budget
6,612
Tanks
0
45,193
Armored Vehicles
0
2,837
Artillery
0
1,366
Rocket Systems
0
1,957
Fighter Jets
0
5,400
Helicopters
1
472
Warships
0
68
Submarines
0
Nuclear Arsenal
United States of America
LARGEST
5,044
WARHEADS
Vatican City
NON-NUCLEAR
0
WARHEADS
Warheads Over Time
Estimated total warhead inventories — Federation of American Scientists / SIPRI
Defense Budget vs GDP
Historical defense spending and how it compares to each country's GDP. The % of GDP view normalises for economic size so smaller economies aren't drowned out by absolute dollar figures.
Defense Budget Over Time ($B)
Defense Budget as % of GDP
No defense budget data yet for Vatican City.
Run
rake data:defense_budget:update to populate.
Source: World Bank Open Data API (MS.MIL.XPND.CD)
Military Active Personnel
United States of America
LARGEST
1.35M
TROOPS
Vatican City
0.0% OF LARGEST
110
TROOPS
United States of America has 12248.18× the active personnel of Vatican City
Air Force Total Aircraft
United States of America
LARGEST
13.3K
AIRCRAFT
Vatican City
0.0% OF LARGEST
0
AIRCRAFT
Total Naval Assets
Land Forces — Detailed Metrics
| Metric |
United States of America
|
Vatican City
|
|---|---|---|
| Active Personnel | 1,347,300 | 110 |
| Reserve Personnel | 799,500 | 0 |
| Total Military Personnel | 2,146,800 | 110 |
| Defense Budget (USD) | $816,000,000,000 | $10,000,000 |
| Tanks | 6,612 | 0 |
| Armored Vehicles | 45,193 | 0 |
| Self-Propelled Artillery | 1,498 | 0 |
| Towed Artillery | 1,339 | 0 |
| Rocket Projectors | 1,366 | 0 |
Air Force — Detailed Metrics
| Metric |
United States of America
|
Vatican City
|
|---|---|---|
| Total Aircraft | 13,300 | 0 |
| Fighters | 1,957 | 0 |
| Attack Aircraft | 2,800 | 0 |
| Transport Aircraft | 945 | 0 |
| Trainer Aircraft | 2,600 | 0 |
| Helicopters | 5,400 | 1 |
| Attack Helicopters | 983 | 0 |
Naval Forces — Detailed Metrics
| Metric |
United States of America
|
Vatican City
|
|---|---|---|
| Total Naval Assets | 472 | 0 |
| Aircraft Carriers | 11 | 0 |
| Destroyers | 73 | 0 |
| Frigates | 0 | 0 |
| Corvettes | 23 | 0 |
| Submarines | 68 | 0 |
| Patrol Vessels | 13 | 0 |
| Mine Warfare Vessels | 8 | 0 |
See economy, trade, demographics, and more for this comparison.
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Data compiled from World Bank, IMF, Global Firepower, SIPRI, Numbeo, and Pew Research.
Last updated July 2026.
Sources & methodology