Military profile
Guatemala Military Strength
Guatemala ranks #102 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 21,500 active personnel. It spent $633 million on its military in 2025 (0.5% of GDP).
Guatemala armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 21,500#98 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 65,000#38 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 30,000#43 of 145
- Army personnel
- 75,000#49 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 3,500#87 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 2,500#75 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 34#102 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 0#95 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 4#57 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 17#99 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 12#109 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 0#96 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 88#67 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 0#98 of 145
Naval power
- Aircraft carriers
- 0#8 of 113
- Destroyers
- 0#15 of 113
- Frigates
- 0#56 of 113
- Corvettes
- 0#47 of 113
- Submarines
- 0#44 of 113
- Patrol vessels
- 20#49 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 0#53 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $633 million#94 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 0.5%#144 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $142.0 billion#75 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Guatemala military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Guatemala grew by 273% between 2010 and 2025, from $170 million to $633 million (current US dollars), and stood at 0.5% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Guatemala
Branches and forces
Army of Guatemala (Ejercito de Guatemala; aka Armed Forces of Guatemala or Fuerzas Armadas de Guatemala): Land Forces (Fuerzas de Tierra), Naval Forces (Fuerzas de Mar), and Air Force (Fuerza de Aire) (2025)
Personnel
approximately 20,000 active Armed Forces (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-28 for voluntary service for men and women (17-21 for military schools); all Guatemalan men 18-49 are subject to selective compulsory service; service obligation is 12-24 months (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the military is lightly armed with an inventory mostly comprised of ageing US equipment; in recent years, the US has provided additional secondhand equipment (2025)
Deployments abroad
180 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO) (2025)
Good to know
the military is responsible for maintaining the independence, sovereignty, territorial integrity, and the honor of Guatemala, but has long focused on internal security; since the 2000s, the Guatemalan Government has used the military to support the National Civil Police in internal security operations (as permitted by the constitution) to combat organized crime, gang violence, and narco-trafficking; other responsibilities include border security, cybersecurity, and providing humanitarian assistance; it also participates in UN missions on a small scale and has a peacekeeping operations training command that offers training to regional countries; the military has security ties with regional partners such as Brazil, Colombia, El Salvador, and Honduras; cooperation with El Salvador and Honduras has included a combined police-military anti-gang task force to patrol border areas; it also has ties with the US, including joint training exercises and material assistance the military held power during most of Guatemala’s 36-year civil war (1960-1996) and conducted a campaign of widespread violence and repression, particularly against the country’s majority indigenous population; more than 200,000 people were estimated to have been killed or disappeared during the conflict (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 0.4% · 2023: 0.4% · 2022: 0.4% · 2021: 0.4% · 2020: 0.4%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Guatemala compared with its neighbours
| Country | Strength rank | Military spending |
|---|---|---|
| Guatemala | #102 | $633 million |
 Mexico | #31 | $13.6 billion |
 Belize | #139 | $33 million |
 Honduras | #92 | $580 million |
 El Salvador | #127 | $490 million |