Philippines ranks 37th in military power Index

MANILA, Philippines — The Philippines ranked 37th of 106 countries listed in Global Firepower's 2014 Power Index, which measures each nation's military strength.

In a statement released this month, the data-collecting site ranked countries based on 50 factors, which determine the militaries' "potential conventional war-making capabilities across land, sea and air."

"The final ranking also incorporates values related to resources, finances and geography," Global Firepower explained. Sources are publicly available including the CIA factbook, online listings and media reports.

Nuclear capability and current political and military leadership, meanwhile, are not taken into account, purportedly to allow smaller, technologically-advanced, nations to compete with larger, lesser-developed ones.

The baseline or perfect value of the index is set at 0.0000, with the United States topping the list with a military power index of 0.2208. America is followed by Russia with 0.2355 and China with 0.2594.

The Philippines has a power index of 1.3042, higher by a notch than Malaysia's 1.3143 but lower than Asian neighbors such as Vietnam wilith 0.8962 and Taiwan with 0.7564.

The Philippines' relatively large population base contributed to the ranking, having 41 million fit for military service out of its total population of over 105 million.

About 220,000 Filipinos are active frontline personnel, while 430,000 are active reservists.

The country's tank value was among the factors included in the data, which notes the Philippines 531 Armored Fighting Vehicles and 270 Towed-Artillery. It does not, however, have any tanks, self-propelled guns or mutli-launch rocket systems.

Components of its air and naval power similarly figured in the index. Global Firepower said the Philippines has 145 aircrafts and 124 helicopters in service. It also has a naval strength of 120 with three frigates, 11 corvettes and 38 coastal defense crafts.

The researchers also considered the country's logistics including its labor force, merchant marine strength, major ports and terminals, roadways and railways, and serviceable airports.

"War is much a battle of logistics--moving man and machine from points all over--as is direct combat. Labor force reflects possible wartime strength," it said.

Oil resources were also taken into account as it is deemed the lifeblood of any fighting force. The Philippines itself produces only 12,000 oil barrels per day day, and consumes 315,000 oil barrels.

The country, however, has proven oil reserves of 138,500,000 oil barrels per day, a bulk of which is underutilized.

Defense budget, debt, foreign exchange and gold reserves as well as purchasing power parity were included.

Finally, the Philippines' geographical values were estimated as they figure into a "defensive-minded war," the researchers said. The country boasts a long coastline of 36,289 kilometers and waterways of 3,219 kilometers with no shared border.

The top 10 strongest global powers in the list are:

Screenshot from Global Firepower