South Korea holds a 71–29 advantage over Philippines on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (88% of the combined total, $47.8bn) and economic size (GDP) (80% of the combined total, $1.9tn). Philippines leads on logistics & power projection.
1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | Philippines | Share | South Korea | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $6.4bn | 12%88% | $47.8bn | 33% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $462bn | 20%80% | $1.9tn | 27% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 145.0k | 21%79% | 555.0k | 20% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 127 | 77%23% | 38 | 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.
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