The National Strength Index showed where Russia ranks in the world

Demographers, economists and the Federal Security Service calculated the country’s main potential

China, the USA, India, Russia – these are the four leading countries in terms of indicators of national strength: geographical characteristics, natural resource reserves, economy, military and scientific potential. This conclusion was reached on the basis of numerous data from various international institutions by specialists from the Institute of Demographic Policy named after D.I. Mendeleev, the Central Economics and Mathematics Institute of the Russian Academy of Sciences and the Federal Security Service of the Russian Federation. Their updated analysis for 2024 takes into account the performance of 193 UN member countries.

The indicator of national strength is an indicator that characterizes the total potential of a particular country. To determine it, scientists take into account 22 indicators, including the area of ​​national territories, farmland, reserves of valuable metals and natural energy resources, population size, economic levels, and the ability of countries to protect themselves and create competitive high-tech products.

Based on the fact that the sum of the indices of 193 UN states is 100, scientists selected 15 leading countries. China took first place with an index of 14.64, second place went to the USA (10.63), and third place to India (6.10). Russia was in 4th place with an index of 5.68, leaving behind Brazil, Iran, Canada, Germany…

However, upon further consideration, namely, when dividing the total potential into individual areas, our country is sometimes not even among the 15 leading countries.

Thus, our worst situation is with life expectancy at birth. According to this indicator, Russia is only in 91st place in the world with 75 years. The top three places for this indicator are occupied by: Monaco (87 years), Japan (84.9), Liechtenstein (84.7).

We occupy only 62nd place in terms of the availability of money supply in the country – 70% of GDP, while for leader Japan this figure is 286%, and for the United States, which is in 19th position, it is 117%.

In the field of scientific potential, our country also lags significantly behind the leading powers. Our research and development costs amount to only 1 percent of GDP (38th place), while Israel and South Korea spend 5% each year, Sweden, the USA, Germany and many other countries – 3% each.

In terms of population, our country ranks 9th with 146 million citizens. The leaders here are India (1 billion 428 million), China (1 billion 411 million) and the USA (334 million).

As for oil reserves, Russia is in 8th place with 80 billion barrels (for comparison, the leader in this indicator, Venezuela, has 303.8 billion). In terms of gold reserves it is in 5th place, after the USA, Germany, Italy and France.

In terms of GDP level at purchasing power parity, our country occupies 6th position in the world; we are also in 6th place in terms of agricultural land area, of which we have 2 million 154 thousand 940 square kilometers, while the leader, China, has 5 million 285 sq km.

Russia is doing better with its military potential. It ranks fourth in the world in terms of the number of armed forces personnel (1 million 454 thousand). The leaders of India, China and the DPRK, respectively: 3 million, 2 million 500 thousand and 1 million 469 thousand.

Our country ranks third in the world in military spending ($86 billion). It is surpassed in this indicator by the United States ($876 billion) and China ($291 billion).

And finally, let us outline those positions in which Russia confidently holds the palm. This is the area of ​​the territory, which is 16 million 376 thousand 870 sq km. Following us in this indicator are China and the United States with more than 9 million sq. km. We are also the first in terms of forest area – 8 million 153 thousand 116 sq km (after us in this indicator are Brazil (4966196) and Canada (3469281)), as well as in natural gas reserves, of which we have 1688 trillion. cube feet (Iran and Qatar have 1200 and 843 trillion cubic feet).