Military profile
Denmark Military Strength
Denmark ranks #50 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 16,000 active personnel. It spent $14.9 billion on its military in 2025 (3.3% of GDP).
Denmark armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 16,000#107 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 45,500#50 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 0#113 of 145
- Army personnel
- 90,000#41 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 3,500#87 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 3,600#65 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 115#68 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 33#50 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 4#57 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 34#75 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 44#96 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 19#75 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 0#107 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 0#98 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 9#17 of 113
- Corvettes
- 0#47 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 15#59 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $14.9 billion#27 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 3.3%#23 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $326.2 billion#52 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Denmark military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Denmark grew by 232% between 2010 and 2025, from $4.5 billion to $14.9 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 3.3% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Denmark
Branches and forces
Danish Armed Forces (Forsvaret): Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air Force (2025)
Personnel
approximately 17,000 active-duty military personnel (2025)
Service age and conscription
18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service for men and women; draftees serve 11 months, including five months of basic training, followed by six months in an operational unit (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the Danish military inventory is comprised of modern European, Israeli, US, and domestically produced weapons and equipment; the Danish defense industry is active in the production of naval vessels, defense electronics, and subcomponents of larger weapons systems, such as the US F-35 fighter aircraft; the major warships of the Royal Danish Navy are produced domestically (2025)
Deployments abroad
Denmark contributes air, ground, and naval forces to a variety of international missions, including grounds troops to NATO's forward defenses in Latvia (2025)
Good to know
the Danish Armed Forces (Forsvaret) have a variety of missions, including enforcing the country’s sovereignty, monitoring Danish waters and airspace, search and rescue, environmental protection, host nation support for alliance partners, international peacekeeping, fulfilling Denmark’s commitments to NATO, and providing assistance to the police for border control, guard tasks, air surveillance, and during national disasters and other emergencies NATO has been a cornerstone of Danish security and defense police since it joined in 1949 as one of the organization’s original members under the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty); the Forsvaret regularly exercises with NATO allies and participates in a number of NATO missions, including its Enhanced Forward Presence in Eastern Europe, air policing in the Baltics, naval operations in the Baltic Sea and North Atlantic, and an advisory mission in Iraq; the Forsvaret leads NATO’s Multinational Division – North (inaugurated 2019), a headquarters based in Latvia that supports the defense planning of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, and the coordination of regional military activities, including NATO’s forward deployed forces; it also takes part in other international missions for Europe and the UN ranging from peacekeeping in Africa to protecting Europe's external borders by patrolling the Mediterranean Sea in support of the European Border and Coast Guard Agency; Denmark is a member of the EU and voted to join the EU’s Common Defense and Security Policy in a 2022 referendum; the Forsvaret cooperates closely with the militaries of other Nordic countries through the Nordic Defense Cooperation (NORDEFCO; established 2009), which consists of Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden in such areas as armaments, training and exercises, and operations; it also has a joint composite special operations command with Belgium and the Netherlands the Forsvaret has an Arctic Command to protect the sovereignty of Denmark in the Arctic region, including the Faroe Islands and Greenland, and conducts maritime pollution prevention, environmental monitoring, fishery inspections, search and rescue, and hydrographical surveys, plus support to governmental science missions; there is also a joint service Special Operations Command (SOKOM), which includes the Sirius Dog Sled Patrol, an elite unit that patrols the most remote parts of northeast Greenland (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2025: 3.2% · 2024: 2.3% · 2023: 2% · 2022: 1.4% · 2021: 1.3%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Germany
Canada