Aircraft carriers are not only the embodiment of a country's military and defense capabilities, but also indications of comprehensive national strength.

Currently in the world, relatively few countries possess aircraft carriers. They are the US, Russia, France, the UK, India, Brazil, Argentina, Spain, Italy, Thailand, Japan and the Republic of Korea. Out of them the US has the most with the largest tonnage.

Excluding prospective aircraft carriers and helicopter carriers, there are altogether 21 in the world in service. The US has 11 of them, about 50 percent of the total number in the whole world. For China's neighbors, Russia's only carrier in service is called Kuznetsov, which was launched in 1985.

India's Viraat is a 28,700 ton carrier, purchased in 1986 from the UK. Thailand's carrier was purchased from Spain in 1997. South Korea also has a carrier of small tonnage.

Japan has commissioned no fully-fledged aircraft carrier since World War Two. As of 2010, it has two small helicopter carriers.