Who Is The Third Most Powerful County In The World?

It’s pretty clear these days that the United States is the most powerful nation in the world and China is the second most powerful nation in the world. But who is third? For the last decade, the most common answer was Russia. Russia has the largest landmass in the world, and until their invasion of Ukraine, was thought to have the second most powerful military in the world.

Amid Russia’s shocking ineptitude in Ukraine, many have discarded the idea of Russia as the third most powerful nation in the world. Military strength was the only thing that kept Russia as a top 3 world power. Russia’s economy is the size of Florida. It has minimal economic and cultural influence. Russia’s invasion of Ukraine not only showed how much weaker their military was than we thought, but the resulting war has weakened their military further. It has also led to most of Europe aligning against it. Sanctions have further weakened Russia’s struggling economy.

But if Russia is not number 3, who is? Generally, when asked for a ranking of power, there is a consistent top 7 or 8 countries listed. The US and China are almost always listed as the top 2. The following countries round out the list of top 7 or 8, depending on what aspects of power are focused on. They are: Russia, the UK, France, Germany, Japan and India. The following countries have different strengths, and as a result could be ranked #3 or #4 on one list, or #8 on another.

The UK is always listed in the top 8. But, like the other aforementioned countries, where they are ranked depends on what aspect of power is considered more important. If cultural influence is given particular weight, the UK can be ranked as high as #3 in the world. If military power is the key element, the UK often drops out of the top 5. Japan and Germany are listed higher if economic weight is considered more important. Japan gets a boost if economic and cultural weight are considered more important than military. For Germany, economy and EU leadership push them higher in the rankings, while their military languishes well below the top 10.

India usually is ranked in the top 8 on account of their population and resultant high overall GDP. India is often ranked high in military. But those rankings take on paper and raw numbers to be more important than intangibles like experience, technology etc. India has the potential that will always make them knock on the door of being a great power. France usually is ranked high for their combination of military, economy and linguistic influence. France is widely rated as the most powerful military in the EU, and has a top 8 economy in the world.

Let’s start by eliminating candidates. Germany’s real strength is really only felt within Europe. They do not have cultural influence around the world, and their leadership within the EU is confined to economics and within the continent. They are not a contender for being a top 3 overall power. Along a similar line, Japan is also out. Their military is also not able to project power outwardly. They have the third largest economy in the world and cultural influence through anime. But their cultural influence is too niche, and their economic influence is not felt in many corners of the world.

India has the potential to be the third most powerful nation in the world. But they simply are not there yet. They should have a much larger economy, and there isn’t hard evidence that their military is powerful. They also simply do not have the political influence that the UK, France or Germany have. As stated before, Russia has nothing that would grant them top 3 status but their military, which has turned out to be much weaker than everyone thought. India and Russia are out.

This leaves the UK and France left. France has a nice combination of a high ranking economy, military, and linguistic influence. The UK has a slightly larger economy than France, but the difference is marginal. France is usually rated to have a better military than the UK, but it is all theoretical. Besides the US being number 1, it is difficult to have a confident assessment of relative military capabilities of the rest of the top 10, as conventional war has not been waged much in the last few decades.

Additionally, the UK often operates militarily in tandem with the US, so the military gap, if there is one, with France, might not be realized into anything substantial. Some have argued that the UK’s departure from the EU has made them less influential on Europe and more in need of the US. They say this has led to the UK not having an independent foreign policy, compared to France, who does.

But as mentioned before, the UK has one thing over all the mentioned top 3 candidates. That is cultural influence. Whether through the English language, which they share influence over the world with the US, or music, tv and film. The US is clearly at the top in all of these categories by huge margins. But compared to any other single country, the UK is ahead in the exports of their music, tv and movies. This again might be because of the English language’s dominant role in the world.

I honestly think that each one of the contenders for 3rd most powerful nation has things that keep them from being in the top 3. Whether it is lack of military power, small economy, or independent foreign policy, none of the nations distinguish themselves as unquestionably the number 3 power in the world. None of these nations are widely influential everywhere. None show themselves as clear powers in the world in their own right. They are great powers, but the differences between their overall power is marginal. Therefore, there is no real 3rd most powerful nation in the world.

If I had to pick one nation as the third most powerful in the world, I’d pick the UK. This would simply be for its influence; cultural and linguistic. Its economy and military would definitely put it in the top 8 already, but its influence does get to many parts of the world that the other nations in contention do not get to. The fact that it shares a language and similar culture to the US also plays a role. It allows Brits to embed within American culture and through that spread their influence. This is especially true in movies and music.

But, as mentioned before, the UK lacks a truly battle tested military, has less influence in Europe, and is accused of not having an independent foreign policy from the US. Britain’s cultural influence is there, but it is not quantifiable, and the impact it has is not objectively felt. It is clear that after the US and then China, no nation stands clear above all the nations below them. There may be a third most powerful nation in the world. But because it’s not clear in any sense, that title has very little practical value.