Another way to tell what tier a country is, is by if the country has a grey or gold bar on the left of their flag in the country selection screen, or if they have a gold or grey outline on the outside of their flag in the diplomacy tab. Most high tier countries have a huge amount of land, and a ton of cities, unless part or most of the country is rural, for example, Russia's land in Siberia is rural, so most of the cities are spread apart. You can tell which tier a country is by how much money, tax, income, and manpower they have. Loss of cities will cause War Exhaustion and lower stability that will greatly weaken a country. They provide the money, resources and manpower. The blood of your country are your cities. There are only three superpowers, with no plans for more (so far):
Each of these nations requires at least 100,000 XP to play as, with the most being China, requiring 250,000. Their population, manpower and economy are enormous. Tier VII countries are the main superpowers in the world. All of these countries have a silver bar by their flag in the country selection screen. Their population is large and their starting economy & military are one of the best. Tier VI countries are minor superpowers in the world. They will either have a grey or a gold bar on the left of their flag in the country selection screen. More than 2.2 billion people nearly a third of the world’s population live in the 23 countries with increasing government restrictions or. Their manpower and military power are strong and their economy is very good. Restrictions on religious beliefs and practices rose in 23 of the world’s 198 countries (12), decreased in 12 countries (6) and remained essentially unchanged in 163 countries (82) between mid-2006 and mid-2009, a new Pew Forum report shows. Tier V countries are major powers of the world. They usually have around 120,000 to 500,000 manpower cap. You can tell which countries are Tier IV by a grey bar on the left of their flag in the country selection screen. Tier IV countries are usually regional powers (or minor powers) and have medium manpower and a decent economy. They also get a starting manpower amount of a little over 60000. Their stability, economy, and military production are increased and have a decent amount of money.
With these countries, you can be conquered quickly by stronger powers.
Tier I represents the weakest nations in the game, the maximum start manpower is 60 thousand.