Marruecos se sitúa entre las 10 potencias militares más importantes de África
Global Firepower (GFP), a website dedicated to military affairs, has been compiling the ranking, which has been updated every year since 2006 and ranks countries according to their military power. The Global Firepower Index for 2023 evaluated the 145 nations, taking into account more than 60 different factors, such as troop size, availability of natural resources, a country's location and its economic position. The information was collected using the most recent official data for each nation. According to this methodology, each is assigned a "PowerIndex" (PwrIndx) value, which indicates its place in the overall ranking, with a score of 0.000 being the perfect score.
Global Firepower aims to provide a better balance of each state's actual power by emphasising the range of weapons at a country's disposal rather than the total amount of weapons it may possess. The formula also allows smaller, more technologically advanced nations to compete with larger, less technologically advanced powers, with unique modifiers, in the form of bonuses and penalties, being applied to further refine the list, which is renewed each year. One special modifier is a nation's possession of nuclear weapons; although not explicitly stated, these nations automatically receive a score increase.
According to the index, Morocco ranks just behind the UAE at 61st in the world. Despite the efforts made by the Moroccan executive, the results within the GFP Index do not reflect the reality of the Kingdom's military power. Because the index does not really show the country's capabilities, but rather evaluates on the basis of a supposed equality between armies, increases in Morocco's defence budget of 30% in 2020, 12% in 2021 and 4% in 2022, thus exceeding $5 billion for the first time, have not been sufficient in the eyes of the ranking officials.
Recent US and Israeli collaborations and the adoption of Morocco as "the great American partner in Africa" in terms of defence and balance in the Sahel region clashes head-on with the situation of countries such as Algeria, which is one of the nations most favoured by the Index due to the good value of factors with great influence on the final rating, making its value soar above nations such as Iraq whose military power always ranks as one of the most respected by the international scene.
According to the index, Morocco's closest pursuers in the ranking are: Syria, Qatar, Tunisia and Yemen which rank respectively 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th in the region, with respective world rankings of 64th, 65th, 73rd and 74th. In the larger MENA region, Lebanon stands out as the least strong nation, ranking 111th. Iraq's army ranks 45th globally and seventh in the MENA region, just behind Algeria.
The United Arab Emirates, a member of the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council), has the second most powerful army in the Gulf and ranks 56th in the world. Second, Egypt is the most powerful military power in the Arab world, with a world ranking of 14th. According to the indicator, which placed Iran in first place, Iran has the third most powerful army in its region and is 17th in the world. Interestingly, Israel ranks 18th, just behind Iran. Of the GCC nations, Saudi Arabia stands out as the most powerful. The Kingdom ranks 22nd in the world and has the second strongest army among Arab nations.
In Global Firepower, nations are ranked according to troop size, national resources, financial status, logistical capabilities and geographic reach. The United States, Russia, China, India, the United Kingdom, South Korea, Pakistan, Japan, France and Italy are the ten most powerful nations according to the Global Power Index 2023. United Kingdom (UK) moving up three places and Japan dropping three places are the only changes in the top 10. In 2023, Italy also moved up one place to tenth in 2023, pushing Brazil out of the top 10 to 12th after Turkey moved up two places to just outside the top 10 in 11th place.
The large number of variables involved means that each country's military investment is not related to its position in the ranking. Thus, the main military investors in the world are: The United States with 762 billion dollars, China with 230 billion, Russia with 83 billion, India with 54 billion, Germany with 52 billion. Clear examples of this are: Germany, which despite being a major investor in defence sees how the GFP statistical model places it far behind the leading nations; and Pakistan, which, despite its low investment, is in the top 10 of the world's best forces.
