According to the latest Military Strength Ranking by Global Firepower, Israel has ranked 17 among the most powerful military, which shows one step improvement, but Iran has ranked 14.

The ranking does not include nuclear weapons or reserve forces.

Global Firepower has estimated Israel’s defense budget at $19 billion and 600 million, which is a significant amount among the top 20 countries, while Iran’s defense budget has been estimated at $6 billion and 300 million.

Among the top 30 countries including Egypt, Brazil, and Japan, Israel has been continuously improving while having by far the smallest population.

Based on Global Firepower’s data, 7.3 percent of Israel’s population of 8,424,904 are serving in different branches of the country’s military or reserves.

In Iran, 1.1 percent of the country’s population of 83 million are serving in the military, which is still a larger number than Israel.

Other Muslim countries like Pakistan, Turkey, and Indonesia are also at higher rankings than Israel.

The Global Firepower ranking considers 55 factors including economic stability, which is why, according to Jerusalem Post, the rank of 14 for Iran is surprising.

Despite the banking and oil sanctions by the United States, Iran continues to invest in its military.

The Islamic Republic regime of Iran does not recognize the state of Israel and has continuously threatened to annihilate it. Israel has regularly warned about Iran’s secret efforts to produce long-range ballistic missiles that could target Israel.