Military profile
Zimbabwe Military Strength
Zimbabwe ranks #98 of 145 in the Global Firepower military strength ranking, with 30,000 active personnel. It spent $160 million on its military in 2025 (0.6% of GDP).
Zimbabwe armed forces in numbers
Personnel
- Active military personnel
- 30,000#81 of 145
- Reserve military personnel
- 0#84 of 145
- Paramilitary forces
- 10,000#66 of 145
- Army personnel
- 25,000#88 of 145
- Air force personnel
- 5,000#73 of 145
- Navy personnel
- 0#113 of 145
Air power
- Total military aircraft
- 90#76 of 145
- Fighter aircraft
- 10#78 of 145
- Attack aircraft
- 0#65 of 145
- Military helicopters
- 28#81 of 145
- Attack helicopters
- 6#57 of 145
Land forces
- Tanks
- 40#98 of 145
- Self-propelled artillery
- 0#96 of 145
- Towed artillery
- 0#107 of 145
- Rocket artillery
- 0#98 of 145
Finance
- Military spending
- $160 million#133 of 156
- Military spending as % of GDP
- 0.6%#141 of 156
- Purchasing power parity (GDP, PPP)
- $40.8 billion#114 of 145
Equipment and personnel: Global Firepower 2023 military strength ranking (2023). Spending: World Bank / SIPRI military expenditure data (CC BY 4.0).
Zimbabwe military spending 2010–2025
Military spending of Zimbabwe grew by 62% between 2010 and 2025, from $98 million to $160 million (current US dollars), and stood at 0.6% of GDP in 2025.
Armed forces of Zimbabwe
Branches and forces
Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF): Zimbabwe National Army (ZNA), Air Force of Zimbabwe (AFZ) Ministry of Home Affairs: Zimbabwe Republic Police (2025)
Personnel
approximately 30,000 active Zimbabwe Defense Forces (2025)
Service age and conscription
18-22 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women (enlisted personnel); 18-24 for officer cadets; 18-30 for technical/specialist personnel; no conscription (2025)
Equipment and suppliers
the ZDF inventory is comprised mostly of Russian/Soviet-era and Chinese armaments with smaller quantities of older or obsolescent material from countries such as Brazil, France, Italy, South Africa, the UK, and the US (2025)
Good to know
the primary responsibilities of the Zimbabwe Defense Forces (ZDF) are protecting the country’s sovereignty and territory and securing its borders; it also has a role in domestic security and socio-economic development projects and has continued to be active in the country’s politics since the 2017 military-assisted political transition; the ZDF is part of the Southern Africa Development Community (SADC) Standby Force and provided troops for the SADC military deployment to Mozambique from 2021-2024; Zimbabwe has defense ties with China and Russia the ZDF was formed after independence from the former Rhodesian Army and the two guerrilla forces that opposed it during the Rhodesian Civil War (aka "Bush War") of the 1970s, the Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army (ZANLA) and the Zimbabwe People's Revolutionary Army (ZIPRA); the ZDF intervened in the Mozambique Civil War (1983-1992), the Democratic Republic of Congo during the Second Congo War (1998-2003), and the Angolan Civil War (1975-2002) during the late 1990s (2025)
Military expenditure (% of GDP)
2024: 0.4% · 2023: 0.3% · 2022: 0.9% · 2021: 1.4% · 2020: 1%
Forces and service: CIA World Factbook (public domain).
Zimbabwe compared with its neighbours
| Country | Strength rank | Military spending |
|---|---|---|
| Zimbabwe | #98 | $160 million |
 Mozambique | #112 | $468 million |
 Botswana | #124 | $614 million |
 Zambia | #89 | $406 million |
 South Africa | #33 | $3.2 billion |