South Korea ranks 11th in the world in terms of military strength, behind Japan at seventh and ahead of North Korea at 25th, according to an annual U.S. military power index.

The South had a firepower index of 0.2824, right behind Italy's 0.2724, according to the Global Firepower (GFP) 2016, which takes over 50 factors into account to assess military power of countries.

The smaller the index, the stronger a country's military power.

South Korea's GFP ranked in ninth place in the 2014 index and seventh in the 2015 index.

Japan's ranking rose from 10th in 2014 and ninth in 2015 while North Korea's index also rose from 35th in 2014 and 36th in 2015.

The United States has remained at the top of the list, followed by Russia, China and India. (Yonhap)