Military profile
Niger Military Strength
Niger ranks #119 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 10,000 active personnel. It spent $489 million on its military in 2025 (2.1% of GDP).
Niger armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 10,000#121 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 0#84 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 3,000#98 of 145
- Army personnel
- 8,500#117 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 350#128 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 0#113 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 16#121 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 0#95 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 2#63 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 7#123 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 1#75 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
- $489 million#106 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 2.1%#54 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $29.0 billion#128 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Niger military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Niger grew by 631% between 2010 and 2025, from $67 million to $489 million (current US dollars), and stood at 2.1% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Niger
Branches and forces
Nigerien Armed Forces (Forces Armees Nigeriennes, FAN): Army, Nigerien Air Force, Niger Gendarmerie Ministry of Interior, Public Safety and Decentralization: Niger National Guard, National Police (2025)
Personnel
estimated 50,000 active Armed Forces, including Gendarmerie; estimated 15-20,000 National Guard (2025)
Service age and conscription
18 is the legal minimum age for selective compulsory or voluntary military service for unmarried men and women; 24-month service term (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the FAN's inventory is comprised of older, typically Soviet-era weapons and equipment, along with smaller quantities of more modern armaments such as unmanned aerial vehicles/drones, air defense systems, and armored vehicles; suppliers over the past decade include China, France, Russia, South Africa, Türkiye, and the US (2025)
Good to know
the military of Niger is responsible for territorial defense, but most of its focus is on internal and border security operations; the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham in the Greater Sahara (ISIS-GS) and the al-Qaida affiliate Jama’at Nusrat al-Islam wal-Muslimin (JNIM) terrorist groups are active in western Niger and in adjacent strongholds in Burkina Faso and Mali, while the Nigeria-based Boko Haram and ISIS-West Africa groups threaten southeast Niger; parts of Niger also face spillover from communal, criminal, and vigilante violence in neighboring Nigeria; since the 2023 coup, some former ethnic separatist rebels have taken up arms in support of deposed President BAZOUM the military has played a role in Niger's domestic politics since its establishment in 1960-61; prior to seizing control of the government in 2023, it attempted coups in 1974, 1996, 1999, 2010, and 2021, and ruled the country for much of the period before 1999 (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 2.2% · 2023: 2% · 2022: 1.7% · 2021: 1.8% · 2020: 2%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Nigeria
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Burkina Faso
Libya
Benin