United Arab Emirates holds a 70–30 advantage over Qatar on the Relative Advantage Index, a decisive margin.
The margin is driven by military spending (60% of the combined total, $22.8bn) and economic size (GDP) (72% of the combined total, $552bn).
1 factor — nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | Qatar | Share | United Arab Emirates | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Military spending SIPRI Milex | $15.4bn | 40%60% | $22.8bn | 33% |
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $219bn | 28%72% | $552bn | 27% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 17.0k | 17%83% | 83.0k | 20% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 9 | 30%70% | 21 | 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.