Tonga holds a 66–34 advantage over Samoa on the Relative Advantage Index, a clear margin.
The margin is driven by active personnel (100% of the combined total, 1.0k) and logistics & power projection (75% of the combined total, 6). Samoa leads on economic size (GDP).
2 factors — military spending, nuclear warheads — could not be scored because the figure is unpublished for at least one side.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 | Samoa | Share | Tonga | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|---|
Economic size (GDP) World Bank WDI | $1.2bn | 67%33% | $591m | 40% |
Active personnel COW NMC | 0 | 0%100% | 1.0k | 30% |
Logistics & power projection OurAirports | 2 | 25%75% | 6 | 30% |
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.