South Africa holds a 97–3 advantage over Eswatini on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (97% of the combined total, $3.2bn) and economic size (GDP) (99% of the combined total, $401bn).
1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side. Those factors are excluded and the remaining weights renormalised, never substituted.
| Factor | Eswatini | Share | South Africa | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $93.4m | 3%97% | $3.2bn | 33% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $4.9bn | 1%99% | $401bn | 27% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 3.0k | 4%96% | 74.0k | 20% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 2 | 3%97% | 70 | 20% |
Shares are each side's portion of the combined total for that factor. Weights are renormalised across the factors both sides publish — see the methodology. Data read 2026-08-04.
Every combination inside the top 30 of the Composite Power Index.
Bordering states — the comparisons people actually search for.