South Korea ranked fifth in the world in military strength this year, 31 spots ahead of North Korea.

According to Global Firepower’s military strength ranking for 2024, South Korea had a firepower index of zero-point-1416 to stand fifth out of 145 countries, moving up a notch from last year to come in behind the U.S. in first followed by Russia, China and India.

The country climbed steadily from ninth in 2013 and seventh in 2014 before maintaining sixth from 2020 to 2023.

North Korea ranked 36th with zero-point-5313 points this year, down from last year's 34th, continuing the downward trend since reaching 18th in 2019.

The index took into account more than 60 factors, such as the number of troops, military equipment, financial stability, geographic location, and available resources, with a lower index indicative of a stronger military.