CONFLICTIQ
HEAD TO HEAD

North Korea vs Russia

North Korea
12%
RAI
Russia
88%

Verdict

Russia holds a 88–12 advantage over North Korea on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.

The margin is driven by military spending (99% of the combined total, $190bn) and nuclear warheads (99% of the combined total, 5.5k). North Korea leads on active personnel.

1 factor — economic size (GDP) — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 by factor

FactorNorth KoreaShareRussiaWeight
Military spending
SIPRI Milex
$1.6bn
1%99%
$190bn31%
Active personnel
COW NMC
1.3m
52%48%
1.2m19%
Nuclear warheads
FAS Nuclear Notebook
50
1%99%
5.5k31%
Logistics & power projection
OurAirports
27
8%92%
30719%

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.

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