Data for 1997

Global Militarisation Index, 1997

Figures for 1997, as BICC published them · stored as published, never rewritten

Global Militarisation Index, 1997 covers 147 countries. Israel is highest, at 342.36; Haiti is lowest, at 2.26. The middle country reads 122.07. Against 1996, 145 values changed (69 up, 76 down), 2 countries joined, 2 left.

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Global Militarisation Index · Data for 1997

HighestIsrael

342.36

LowestHaiti

2.26

Shaded by value in five groups of equal size, darkest at the lowest end. A higher value is the worse result.

147countries
1measure
1997the year it describes
147distinct values14 decimals, as published
Sep 11, 2026read from the publisher
CC BY 4.0licence

01BICC’s rank

The table

Every country and every column of Global Militarisation Index, 1997, as published. The rank is BICC’s own, as printed. “=” marks a shared position.

Search this table

Showing 25 of 147 countries · select a heading to sort

Global Militarisation Index, 1997: every country, as published by Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC).

1	IsraelISRWestern Asia	342.36	Middle East
2	SingaporeSGPSouth-eastern Asia	327.34	East Asia
3	BahrainBHRWestern Asia	300.93	Middle East
4	United Arab EmiratesAREWestern Asia	296.38	Middle East
5	CroatiaHRVSouthern Europe	287.59	Central Europe
6	SyriaSYRWestern Asia	280.04	Middle East
7	BruneiBRNSouth-eastern Asia	275.01	East Asia
8	OmanOMNWestern Asia	274.17	Middle East
9	CyprusCYPWestern Asia	268.73	Western Europe
10	KuwaitKWTWestern Asia	268.26	Middle East
11	JordanJORWestern Asia	267.77	Middle East
12	Saudi ArabiaSAUWestern Asia	266.35	Middle East
13	LibyaLBYNorthern Africa	253.86	North Africa
14	EritreaERIEastern Africa	251.98	Sub-Saharan Africa
15	RussiaRUSEastern Europe	239.16	Eastern Europe
16	LiberiaLBRWestern Africa	232.87	Sub-Saharan Africa
17	ArmeniaARMWestern Asia	232.17	Eastern Europe
18	YemenYEMWestern Asia	222.98	Middle East
19	South KoreaKOREastern Asia	221.75	East Asia
20	BulgariaBGREastern Europe	221.62	Central Europe
21	AngolaAGOMiddle Africa	219.96	Sub-Saharan Africa
22	GreeceGRCSouthern Europe	219.33	Western Europe
23	LebanonLBNWestern Asia	215.03	Middle East
24	TürkiyeTURWestern Asia	212.26	Western Europe
25	LaosLAOSouth-eastern Asia	209.45	East Asia
26	TurkmenistanTKMCentral Asia	209.13	Central Asia
27	MongoliaMNGEastern Asia	199.23	East Asia
28	RomaniaROUEastern Europe	197.47	Central Europe
29	DjiboutiDJIEastern Africa	196.82	Sub-Saharan Africa
30	UkraineUKREastern Europe	196.45	Eastern Europe
31	BelarusBLREastern Europe	194.00	Eastern Europe
32	FinlandFINNorthern Europe	190.15	Western Europe
33	AlbaniaALBSouthern Europe	186.32	Central Europe
34	CambodiaKHMSouth-eastern Asia	185.51	East Asia
35	AzerbaijanAZEWestern Asia	183.55	Eastern Europe
36	PakistanPAKSouthern Asia	182.79	South Asia
37	AlgeriaDZANorthern Africa	179.92	North Africa
38	SwedenSWENorthern Europe	176.83	Western Europe
39	ZimbabweZWEEastern Africa	176.16	Sub-Saharan Africa
40	MoroccoMARNorthern Africa	174.50	North Africa
41	EgyptEGYNorthern Africa	174.01	Middle East
42	SlovakiaSVKEastern Europe	166.66	Central Europe
43	Sri LankaLKASouthern Asia	164.97	South Asia
44	NorwayNORNorthern Europe	162.56	Western Europe
45	United StatesUSANorthern America	161.76	North America
46	VietnamVNMSouth-eastern Asia	159.61	East Asia
47	IranIRNSouthern Asia	157.68	Middle East
48	DenmarkDNKNorthern Europe	154.90	Western Europe
49	CzechiaCZEEastern Europe	153.56	Central Europe
50	HungaryHUNEastern Europe	152.29	Central Europe
51	BotswanaBWASouthern Africa	149.69	Sub-Saharan Africa
52	ChileCHLSouth America	146.41	South America
53	SwitzerlandCHEWestern Europe	145.14	Western Europe
54	BurundiBDIEastern Africa	143.79	Sub-Saharan Africa
55	FranceFRAWestern Europe	143.63	Western Europe
56	PolandPOLEastern Europe	142.68	Central Europe
57	UruguayURYSouth America	140.23	South America
58	ThailandTHASouth-eastern Asia	139.68	East Asia
59	MauritaniaMRTWestern Africa	138.74	Sub-Saharan Africa
60	United KingdomGBRNorthern Europe	136.66	Western Europe
61	ItalyITASouthern Europe	136.37	Western Europe
62	KyrgyzstanKGZCentral Asia	134.33	Central Asia
63	NetherlandsNLDWestern Europe	133.78	Western Europe
64	PortugalPRTSouthern Europe	133.61	Western Europe
65	SloveniaSVNSouthern Europe	131.85	Central Europe
66	SpainESPSouthern Europe	130.72	Western Europe
67	MalaysiaMYSSouth-eastern Asia	130.09	East Asia
68	MyanmarMMRSouth-eastern Asia	129.50	East Asia
69	PeruPERSouth America	125.40	South America
70	TunisiaTUNNorthern Africa	125.01	North Africa
71	KazakhstanKAZCentral Asia	123.50	Central Asia
72	GeorgiaGEOWestern Asia	122.53	Eastern Europe
73	BelgiumBELWestern Europe	122.44	Western Europe
74	EcuadorECUSouth America	122.07	South America
75	BoliviaBOLSouth America	121.77	South America
76	GermanyDEUWestern Europe	121.46	Western Europe
77	RwandaRWAEastern Africa	120.92	Sub-Saharan Africa
78	MoldovaMDAEastern Europe	118.04	Eastern Europe
79	ChadTCDMiddle Africa	116.83	Sub-Saharan Africa
80	AustriaAUTWestern Europe	116.72	Western Europe
81	EthiopiaETHEastern Africa	113.47	Sub-Saharan Africa
82	AustraliaAUSAustralia and New Zealand	112.03	Oceania
83	South AfricaZAFSouthern Africa	111.69	Sub-Saharan Africa
84	NamibiaNAMSouthern Africa	111.00	Sub-Saharan Africa
85	IndonesiaIDNSouth-eastern Asia	109.92	East Asia
86	ColombiaCOLSouth America	109.09	South America
87	NicaraguaNICCentral America	105.88	Central America and the Caribbean
88	UzbekistanUZBCentral Asia	105.53	Central Asia
89	VenezuelaVENSouth America	105.52	South America
90	CanadaCANNorthern America	105.29	North America
91	Guinea-BissauGNBWestern Africa	104.27	Sub-Saharan Africa
92	SudanSDNNorthern Africa	102.72	Sub-Saharan Africa
93	New ZealandNZLAustralia and New Zealand	101.39	Oceania
94	ChinaCHNEastern Asia	99.74	East Asia
95	ParaguayPRYSouth America	96.39	South America
96	Equatorial GuineaGNQMiddle Africa	95.16	Sub-Saharan Africa
97	IndiaINDSouthern Asia	94.03	South Asia
98	ArgentinaARGSouth America	90.79	South America
99	TajikistanTJKCentral Asia	90.57	Central Asia
100	TanzaniaTZAEastern Africa	87.30	Sub-Saharan Africa
101	LesothoLSOSouthern Africa	86.86	Sub-Saharan Africa
102	EstoniaESTNorthern Europe	86.40	Central Europe
103	PhilippinesPHLSouth-eastern Asia	86.29	East Asia
104	BrazilBRASouth America	85.53	South America
105	TogoTGOWestern Africa	85.01	Sub-Saharan Africa
106	ZambiaZMBEastern Africa	84.98	Sub-Saharan Africa
107	El SalvadorSLVCentral America	84.36	Central America and the Caribbean
108	IrelandIRLNorthern Europe	79.60	Western Europe
109	MozambiqueMOZEastern Africa	78.01	Sub-Saharan Africa
110	UgandaUGAEastern Africa	77.24	Sub-Saharan Africa
111	GuineaGINWestern Africa	73.76	Sub-Saharan Africa
112	JapanJPNEastern Asia	73.02	East Asia
113	CameroonCMRMiddle Africa	71.59	Sub-Saharan Africa
114	SeychellesSYCEastern Africa	68.73	Sub-Saharan Africa
115	MaliMLIWestern Africa	68.72	Sub-Saharan Africa
116	PanamaPANCentral America	68.69	Central America and the Caribbean
117	Central African RepublicCAFMiddle Africa	68.16	Sub-Saharan Africa
118	BelizeBLZCentral America	68.06	Central America and the Caribbean
119	BangladeshBGDSouthern Asia	68.02	South Asia
120	Burkina FasoBFAWestern Africa	66.94	Sub-Saharan Africa
121	MadagascarMDGEastern Africa	65.97	Sub-Saharan Africa
122	SenegalSENWestern Africa	65.48	Sub-Saharan Africa
123	KenyaKENEastern Africa	64.56	Sub-Saharan Africa
124	GuatemalaGTMCentral America	64.32	Central America and the Caribbean
125	DR CongoCODMiddle Africa	61.01	Sub-Saharan Africa
126	FijiFJIMelanesia	58.23	Oceania
127	LatviaLVANorthern Europe	57.82	Central Europe
128	Dominican RepublicDOMCaribbean	56.88	Central America and the Caribbean
129	LuxembourgLUXWestern Europe	54.56	Western Europe
130	GuyanaGUYSouth America	53.13	South America
131	LithuaniaLTUNorthern Europe	49.15	Central Europe
132	MexicoMEXCentral America	46.84	Central America and the Caribbean
133	MaltaMLTSouthern Europe	46.46	Western Europe
134	NigeriaNGAWestern Africa	41.21	Sub-Saharan Africa
135	Papua New GuineaPNGMelanesia	40.57	Oceania
136	NepalNPLSouthern Asia	39.98	South Asia
137	NigerNERWestern Africa	38.71	Sub-Saharan Africa
138	JamaicaJAMCaribbean	37.98	Central America and the Caribbean
139	MalawiMWIEastern Africa	37.67	Sub-Saharan Africa
140	Cabo VerdeCPVWestern Africa	35.30	Sub-Saharan Africa
141	Trinidad and TobagoTTOCaribbean	31.34	Central America and the Caribbean
142	MauritiusMUSEastern Africa	30.41	Sub-Saharan Africa
143	Sierra LeoneSLEWestern Africa	26.14	Sub-Saharan Africa
144	Côte d’IvoireCIVWestern Africa	23.07	Sub-Saharan Africa
145	GhanaGHAWestern Africa	21.77	Sub-Saharan Africa
146	GambiaGMBWestern Africa	18.62	Sub-Saharan Africa
147	HaitiHTICaribbean	2.26	Central America and the Caribbean

02In 1997

At either end

The 5 countries at each end of the headline.

Highest

#1Israel342.36
#2Singapore327.34
#3Bahrain300.93
#4United Arab Emirates296.38
#5Croatia287.59

Lowest

#147Haiti2.26
#146Gambia18.62
#145Ghana21.77
#144Côte d’Ivoire23.07
#143Sierra Leone26.14

A higher value is the worse result. The middle country reads 122.07. “Shared” marks a value another country also holds.

031996 → 1997

Since 1996

What changed between 1996 and this one: who joined or left, and how far the headline moved.

+2 / −2countries joined / left
145values changed, of 145 in both
69 · 76rose · fell
0unchanged

Rose most

Angola149.01 → 219.96+70.95
Chad86.38 → 116.83+30.45
Turkmenistan182.98 → 209.13+26.15
Ethiopia89.81 → 113.47+23.66
Yemen200.43 → 222.98+22.55

Fell most

Seychelles158.02 → 68.73−89.29
Albania224.06 → 186.32−37.74
Mongolia225.28 → 199.23−26.06
Sierra Leone50.54 → 26.14−24.40
Slovakia187.37 → 166.66−20.71

+ United Arab Emirates

+ Libya

− Republic of the Congo

− Honduras

Changes in value, not in places: a country’s place also moves when others do. Every country’s full history is charted on the statistic page.

04Caveats

Read before you use

What this edition’s numbers are and are not, worked out from the file itself.

The site’s method

The rank is BICC’s
Printed exactly as the publisher ranked the countries. This site does not re-rank them.
Which end is better
A higher value is the worse result.
Nothing missing
Every one of the 147 countries has every column.

05The files

Download and cite

The table as a file, digit for digit, what this site changed, and a citation for this edition.

Licence in full

.csv
For a spreadsheet or code
147 rows · 8.5 KB · UTF-8, opens in Excel
Opens with 11 lines of source notes; the table starts on row 13.
Download militarisation-1997-nations-inquiry.csv
↗
The publisher’s original
BICC’s own file, on its own site.
GMI-2024-all-years.xlsx

What this site changed: Reshaped into one row per country: regional and income-group totals are left out, only the columns listed are kept, each row gets its ISO 3166 code, and some country names are brought to one spelling. No value is recalculated, rescaled or rounded.

Licence: CC BY. Share, adapt and use commercially. Credit the publisher and say if you changed anything.

Cite this edition

Bonn International Centre for Conflict Studies (BICC) (1997). Global Militarisation Index, 1997 [data set], describing 1997. As held by Nations Inquiry, https://nationsinquiry.com/datasets/militarisation/1997

0634 held

Other years

‹ The year before
Global Militarisation Index, 1996
147 countries
The year after ›
Global Militarisation Index, 1998
144 countries
All of them
Global Militarisation Index: every year
34 held, with the data dictionary, coverage and licence.
How it has moved, charted by country

07Questions