Military profile
Nepal Military Strength
Nepal ranks #129 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 95,000 active personnel. It spent $428 million on its military in 2025 (1.0% of GDP).
Nepal armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 95,000#47 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 0#84 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 10,000#66 of 145
- Army personnel
- 45,000#66 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 500#120 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 0#113 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 15#123 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 0#95 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 10#115 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
- $428 million#108 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 1.0%#117 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $110.7 billion#82 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Nepal military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Nepal grew by 68% between 2010 and 2025, from $255 million to $428 million (current US dollars), and stood at 1.0% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Nepal
Branches and forces
Nepalese Armed Forces (Ministry of Defense): Nepali Army (includes Air Wing) Ministry of Home Affairs: Nepal Police, Nepal Armed Police Force (APF) (2025)
Personnel
approximately 95,000 active Armed Forces (2025)
Service age and conscription
18 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women; upper age limit varies; no conscription (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the Army's inventory includes a mix of mostly older equipment largely of British, Chinese, Indian, Russian, and South African origin; in recent years, Nepal has received limited amounts of newer hardware from several countries, including China, Indonesia, Italy, and Russia (2025)
Deployments abroad
1240 Central African Republic (MINUSCA); 1,150 Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO); 440 Golan Heights (UNDOF); 875 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 225 Liberia (UNSMIL); 100 South Sudan/Sudan (UNISFA); 1,750 (plus about 200 police) South Sudan (UNMISS) (2025)
Good to know
the Nepali Army is responsible for territorial defense, fulfilling Nepal's commitments to UN peacekeeping, and some domestic duties such as disaster relief/humanitarian assistance, social services, and nature conservation efforts; during the 10-year civil war that ended in 2006, it conducted counterinsurgency operations against Maoist guerrillas; the Army has a long history of supporting UN missions, having sent its first UN observers to Lebanon in 1958 and its first troop contingent to Egypt in 1974; as of 2025, 150,000 Nepali military personnel have deployed on over 40 UN missions; Nepal's key security partners are China, India, and the US the British began to recruit Nepalese citizens (Gurkhas) into the East India Company Army during the Anglo-Nepalese War (1814-1816); the Gurkhas subsequently were brought into the British Indian Army and by 1914, there were 10 Gurkha regiments, collectively known as the Gurkha Brigade; following the partition of India in 1947, an agreement between Nepal, India, and Great Britain allowed for the transfer of the 10 regiments from the British Indian Army to the separate British and Indian armies; four regiments were transferred to the British Army, where they have since served continuously as the Brigade of Gurkhas; six Gurkha (aka Gorkha in India) regiments went to the new Indian Army; a seventh regiment was later added; Gurkhas are also recruited into the Singaporean Police and a special guard in the Sultanate of Brunei known as the Gurkha Reserve Unit (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 1% · 2023: 1% · 2022: 1.1% · 2021: 1.3% · 2020: 1.3%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
India
China