Military profile
Brazil Military Strength
Brazil ranks #12 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 360,000 active personnel. It spent $23.9 billion on its military in 2025 (1.1% of GDP).
Brazil armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 360,000#14 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 1,340,000#3 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 400,000#7 of 145
- Army personnel
- 235,000#13 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 81,000#7 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 80,500#5 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 665#15 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 42#46 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 76#11 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 171#24 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 466#35 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 136#30 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 546#21 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 78#45 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 6#27 of 113
- Corvettes
- 2#32 of 113
- Submarines
- 7#16 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 22#44 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 5#26 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $23.9 billion#21 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 1.1%#111 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $3.00 trillion#8 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Brazil military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Brazil fell by 30% between 2010 and 2025, from $34.0 billion to $23.9 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 1.1% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Brazil
Branches and forces
Brazilian Armed Forces (Forças Armadas Brasileiras): Brazilian Army (Exercito Brasileiro, EB), Brazilian Navy (Marinha do Brasil; includes Naval Aviation (Aviacao Naval Brasileira) and Marine Corps (Corpo de Fuzileiros Navais)), Brazilian Air Force (Forca Aerea Brasileira) (2025)
Personnel
approximately 360,000 active Armed Forces (220,000 Army; 70,000 Navy; 70,000 Air Force) (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-45 years of age for compulsory military service for men (only 5-10% of those inducted are required to serve); compulsory service obligation is generally 12 months; 17-45 (18 for women) years of age for voluntary service (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the Brazilian military's inventory consists of a mix of domestically produced and imported weapons, largely from Europe and the US; Brazil's defense industry designs and manufactures equipment for all three military services and for export; it also jointly produces equipment with other countries (2025)
Good to know
the Brazilian Armed Forces (BAF) are the second largest military in the Western Hemisphere behind the US; they are responsible for external security and protecting the country's sovereignty but also have an internal security role; the BAF’s missions include patrolling and protecting the country’s long borders and coastline and extensive territorial waters and river network, assisting with internal security, providing domestic disaster response and humanitarian assistance, and participating in multinational peacekeeping missions; it also cooperates with neighboring countries such as Argentina and Paraguay to combat cross-border smuggling and trafficking Brazil has Major Non-NATO Ally (MNNA) status with the US, a designation under US law that provides foreign partners with certain benefits in the areas of defense trade and security cooperation the origins of Brazil's military stretch back to the 1640s; Brazil provided a 25,000-man expeditionary force with air and ground units to fight with the Allies in the Mediterranean Theater during World War II; the Navy participated in the Battle of the Atlantic (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 1.1% · 2023: 1.1% · 2022: 1.2% · 2021: 1.3% · 2020: 1.4%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
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