The Crisis of Foreign Base Escalation
Many countries operate foreign military bases; the U.S. by far operates the most, with over 900 military bases around the world. But at least 16 other nations operate foreign military bases, each of which increases the risk of war. Some of these physical installations are on land occupied as spoils of war. Most are maintained through collaborations with governments, many of them brutal and oppressive governments benefiting from the bases’ presence. In many cases, human beings were displaced to make room for these military installations, often depriving people of farmland, adding huge amounts of pollution to local water systems and the air, and existing as an unwelcome presence.
The leading operator of foreign military bases today is the United States of America, with more foreign military centers than all the other countries of the world put together. Please use the links on this page to explore the current state of military base expansion and escalation on country-specific map pages. To explore each country’s bases, click on map markers or use the dashboard to make selections.
USA’s Military Empire: 925 Foreign Bases in 98 Countries
Other Nations With Foreign Military Bases (Click for Detail)
UK: 117 Bases in 38 Countries |
Turkiye: 108 Bases in 9 Countries |
Russia: 58 Bases in 10 Countries |
Iran: 22 Bases in 3 Countries |
India: 22 Bases in 12 Countries |
France: 15 Bases in 10 Countries |
UAE: 13 Bases in 5 Countries |
Singapore: 10 Bases in 6 Countries |
China: 6 Bases in 6 Countries |
Canada: 4 Bases in 4 Countries |
Netherlands: 3 Bases in 2 Countries |
Saudi Arabia: 2 Bases in 2 Countries |
Australia: 2 Bases in 2 Countries |
Italy: 2 Bases in 2 Countries |
Bangladesh: 1 Base in 1 Country |
Pakistan: 1 Base in 1 Country |
Japan: 1 Base in 1 Country |
Closed Foreign Military Bases
Closed Bases: 1796 Former Bases |
Why We Built This Database
This visual database was researched and developed by World BEYOND War to help journalists, activists, researchers and individual readers understand the immense problem of excessive preparation for war, which inevitably leads to international bullying, meddling, threats, escalation and mass atrocity. By illustrating the extent of USA’s empire of military outposts, we hope to call attention to the wider problem. Thanks to davidvine.net for a variety of information included herein.
Base Usage
A U.S.-Only Base is used only by U.S. troops, whereas a Co-Base is also used by the military of the host country, and a Training Base is primarily a host-country base but is regularly used by the U.S. military to train the local military.
How You Can Help
Please help spread the word that information about USA’s military empire is available to the public.
This database is a work in progress, using information gathered from various public data sources. If you see errors or omissions, please let us know.
World BEYOND War is seeking funding to continue the research, data collection and software development for this project and other related map/database projects highlighting the problems of global militarization. We hope to improve this app in the following three ways:
Include More Countries
The current version only includes data about USA’s foreign military outposts, but future versions of this app will include information about foreign military bases maintained by all nations.
Increased Scope of Information About Each Base
Much information is available about the effect of foreign military bases on local communities and populations. We hope to track more data points covering more aspects of the severe problems caused by these military outposts.
Software Enhancement
World BEYOND War hopes to continue to produce original, high-quality, information-rich presentations for the use of the global antiwar movement. This requires investment in coding and UX skills. We are seeking funding to improve this app, customize it for different types of screens, and allow us to build more information-rich presentations of various kinds.
Please become a World BEYOND War donor to support this and other projects. If you would like to sponsor or become a contributor to our Close Military Bases activities, please contact us.
Learn more about bases and our campaign to close them here.
