Military profile
Zambia Military Strength
Zambia ranks #89 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 16,500 active personnel. It spent $406 million on its military in 2025 (1.3% of GDP).
Zambia armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 16,500#106 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 0#84 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 1,000#106 of 145
- Army personnel
- 8,500#117 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 5,300#72 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 0#113 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 98#74 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 8#85 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 27#84 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 0#79 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 75#85 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 6#91 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 42#83 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 50#52 of 145
Finance
- Military spending
- $406 million#111 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 1.3%#102 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $60.1 billion#101 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Zambia military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Zambia grew by 45% between 2010 and 2025, from $280 million to $406 million (current US dollars), and stood at 1.3% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Zambia
Branches and forces
Zambia Defense Force (ZDF): Zambia Army, Zambia Air Force, Zambia National Service Ministry of Home Affairs and Internal Security: Zambia Police (2025)
Personnel
approximately 16,000 active Defense Forces (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-25 years of age (17 with parental consent) for voluntary military service for men and women; no conscription; initial service of 7 years followed by 5 in the Reserves (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the ZDF's inventory is largely comprised of Chinese, Russian, and Soviet-era weapons and equipment along with smaller quantities of items from other suppliers such as Israel, South Africa, and the US (2025)
Deployments abroad
930 Central African Republic (MINUSCA) (2025)
Good to know
the Zambia Defense Forces (ZDF) are responsible for territorial defense, border security, and providing support to African and UN peacekeeping operations; it also has some domestic security responsibilities in cases of national emergency and is involved in socio-economic support; in recent years, ZDF has been directed to assist in agricultural production; the ZDF is part of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Standby Force and participates in multinational training exercises; it has received training assistance from China and the US the ZDF traces its roots to the Northern Rhodesia Regiment, which was raised by the British colonial government to fight in World War II; the ZDF was established in 1964 from units of the dissolved Federation of Rhodesia and Nyasaland armed forces; it participated in a number of regional conflicts during the 1970s and 1980s; Zambia actively supported independence movements such as the Union for the Total Liberation of Angola (UNITA), the Zimbabwe African People's Union (ZAPU), the African National Congress of South Africa (ANC), and the South-West Africa People's Organization (SWAPO) (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 1.3% · 2023: 1.3% · 2022: 1.1% · 2021: 1.1% · 2020: 1.2%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
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