Military profile
Latvia Military Strength
Latvia ranks #95 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 6,500 active personnel. It spent $1.7 billion on its military in 2025 (3.6% of GDP).
Latvia armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 6,500#132 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 15,000#64 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 8,200#79 of 145
- Army personnel
- 7,000#126 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 250#137 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 350#106 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 4#131 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 0#95 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 4#128 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 0#115 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 59#50 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 0#107 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 6#90 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
- 11#72 of 113
- Mine warfare vessels
- 6#22 of 113
Finance
- Military spending
- $1.7 billion#68 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 3.6%#16 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $55.8 billion#102 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Latvia military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Latvia grew by 567% between 2010 and 2025, from $260 million to $1.7 billion (current US dollars), and stood at 3.6% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Latvia
Branches and forces
National Armed Forces (Nacionalie Brunotie Speki or NBS): Land Forces (Latvijas Sauszemes Speki), Naval Force (Latvijas Juras Speki, includes Coast Guard (Latvijas Kara Flote)), Air Force (Latvijas Gaisa Speki), National Guard (aka Land Guard or Zemessardze) Ministry of Interior: State Police, State Border Guards, State Security Service (2025)
Personnel
approximately 9,000 active-duty military personnel (2025)
Service age and conscription
mandatory military service for all men 18-24; men and women 18-27 may volunteer for military service; service length 11 months in the Armed Forces or National Guard, or 5 years in the National Guard as a whole, with a minimum of 21 days of individual training and a maximum of 7 days of collective training each year (2026)
Equipment and suppliers
the Latvian military's inventory consists of European and US armaments (2025)
Deployments abroad
140 Kosovo (KFOR/NATO) (2025)
Good to know
the National Armed Forces are responsible for the defense of the country’s sovereignty and territory; they also have some domestic security responsibilities, including coast guard functions, search and rescue, humanitarian assistance, and providing support to other internal security services; the Military Police provides protection to the president and other government officials, foreign dignitaries, and key facilities; Latvia’s primary external security focus is Russia in 2004, Latvia joined NATO and the EU, both of which it depends on to play a decisive role in Latvia’s security policy; the Latvian military has participated in EU and NATO missions abroad and regularly conducts training and exercises with EU and NATO partner forces; Latvia also hosts NATO partner forces; since 2017, it has hosted a Canadian-led multinational NATO ground force battlegroup as part of the Alliance’s Enhanced Forward Presence initiative; in addition, NATO has provided air protection for Latvia since 2004 through its Baltics Air Policing mission Latvia is a member of the UK-led Joint Expeditionary Force, a pool of high-readiness military forces from 10 Baltic and Scandinavian countries designed to respond to a wide range of contingencies in the North Atlantic, Baltic Sea, and High North regions (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2025: 3.7% · 2024: 3.4% · 2023: 3% · 2022: 2.3% · 2021: 2.2%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Lithuania
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Russia
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