Iran holds a 73–27 advantage over Kuwait on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by economic size (GDP) (75% of the combined total, $475bn) and active personnel (97% of the combined total, 610.0k). Kuwait leads on military spending.
1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | Iran | Share | Kuwait | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $7.4bn | 48%52% | $8.1bn | 33% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $475bn | 75%25% | $160bn | 27% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 610.0k | 97%3% | 18.0k | 20% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 76 | 89%11% | 9 | 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.