Military profile
Kosovo Military Strength
Kosovo ranks #134 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 5,000 active personnel. It spent $235 million on its military in 2025 (1.9% of GDP).
Kosovo armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 5,000#135 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 3,000#80 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 0#113 of 145
- Army personnel
- 5,000#132 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 0#138 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 0#113 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 0#141 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 0#95 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 0#138 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 0#115 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 0#96 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 0#107 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 0#98 of 145
Finance
- Military spending
- $235 million#120 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 1.9%#74 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $20.0 billion#132 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Kosovo military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Kosovo grew by 508% between 2010 and 2025, from $39 million to $235 million (current US dollars), and stood at 1.9% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Kosovo
Branches and forces
Kosovo Security Force (KSF; Forca e Sigurisë së Kosovës or FSK): Land Force, National Guard (2025)
Personnel
approximately 3,300 Kosovo Security Forces, including about 800 reserves (2024)
Service age and conscription
any citizen of Kosovo over the age of 18 is eligible to serve in the Kosovo Security Force; upper age for enlisting is 30 for officers, 25 for other ranks, although these may be waived for recruits with key skills considered essential for the KSF (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the KSF is equipped with small arms and light vehicles and has relied on limited amounts of donated equipment from several countries, particularly Türkiye and the US (2025)
Good to know
the Kosovo Security Force (KSF) was established in 2009 as a small (1,500 personnel), lightly armed disaster response force; the NATO-led Kosovo Force (KFOR) was charged with assisting in the development of the KSF and bringing it up to standards designated by NATO; the KSF was certified as fully operational by the North Atlantic Council in 2013, indicating the then 2,200-strong KSF was entirely capable of performing the tasks assigned under its mandate, which included non-military security functions that were not appropriate for the police, plus missions such as search and rescue, explosive ordnance disposal, control and clearance of hazardous materials, firefighting, and other humanitarian assistance tasks in 2019, Kosovo approved legislation that began a process to transition the KSF by 2028 into a professional military (the Kosovo Armed Forces) led by a General Staff and comprised of a Land Force, a National Guard, a Logistics Command, and a Doctrine and Training Command; it would have a strength of up to 5,000 with about 3,000 reserves; at the same time, the KSF’s mission was expanded to include traditional military functions, such as territorial defense and international peacekeeping; the KSF’s first international mission was the deployment of a small force to Kuwait in 2021 the NATO-led KFOR has operated in the country as a peace support force since 1999; in addition to assisting in the development of the KSF, KFOR is responsible for providing a safe and secure environment and ensuring freedom of movement for all citizens; as of 2025, it had approximately 4,700 troops from more than 30 countries (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 1.5% · 2023: 1.3% · 2022: 1.1% · 2021: 1.1% · 2020: 1%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Kosovo compared with its neighbours
| Country | Strength rank | Military spending |
|---|---|---|
| Kosovo | #134 | $235 million |
 Serbia | #58 | $2.8 billion |
 North Macedonia | #108 | $375 million |
 Albania | #91 | $624 million |
 Montenegro | #128 | $177 million |