Libya: Armed forces personnel, total

Key figures

Since 1985 it is down 100% from 73,000 in 1985. The World Bank has no value for 10 of the years in between; the chart leaves those gaps open rather than joining across them.

What the numbers say

On record, the biggest yearly rise was 11,000 in 2000 and the biggest yearly fall was 15,000 in 1996. The numbers show how large and when, not why; for the cause, look at what happened in that country in those years.

Worked out from the yearly values above. How the checks work: standard deviation, z-scores and straight-line trends.

How it compares

In 2020, Libya had the 166th highest value of the 170 economies reporting that year. Higher is not always better: for some indicators the lowest value is the one to aim for. See the full ranking.

Closest to Libya in the 2020 ranking

• Luxembourg — 165th of 170: 1,000
• Antigua and Barbuda — 166th of 170: 0
• Iceland — 167th of 170: 0
• Seychelles — 169th of 170: 0
• West Bank and Gaza — 170th of 170: 0

What this measures

Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces.

Limitations: Data excludes personnel not on active duty, therefore it underestimates the share of the labor force working for the defense establishment. The cooperation of governments of all countries listed in “The Military Balance” has been sought by IISS and, in many cases, received. However, some data in “The Military Balance” is estimated.

Regional and income-group figures are computed by the World Bank as a sum.

All 26 values

Armed forces personnel, total in nearby economies

• Afghanistan — 165,000 (2020)
• Algeria — 326,000 (2020)
• Bahrain — 19,000 (2020)
• Djibouti — 13,000 (2020)
• Egypt, Arab Rep. — 836,000 (2020)
• Iran, Islamic Rep. — 650,000 (2020)
• Iraq — 459,000 (2020)
• Israel — 178,000 (2020)
• Jordan — 116,000 (2020)
• Kuwait — 25,000 (2020)
• Lebanon — 80,000 (2020)

More public sector data for Libya

• Arms imports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 5 million (2024)
• Military expenditure (current USD) — 1.57 billion (2023)
• Military expenditure (current LCU) — 7.57 billion (2023)
• Military expenditure (% of GDP) — 3.57% (2023)
• Arms exports (SIPRI trend indicator values) — 0 (2016)
• Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force) — 0% (2020)
• Statistical performance indicators (SPI): Pillar 1 data use score (scale 0-100) — 20 (2024)
• Statistical performance indicators (SPI): Pillar 3 data products score (scale 0-100) — 53.76 (2024)
• Military expenditure (% of general government expenditure)

Reading data like this

• Where to find free public data, and how to check it before you trust it — 2 min read
• Data analysis examples: 6 worked from one dataset — 3 min read
• Real change or random noise? A plain guide to reading your numbers — 2 min read

Questions people ask

What is Libya's armed forces personnel, total?

0 in 2020, according to the World Bank (World Development Indicators).

How has it changed since 1985?

It is down 100% from 73,000 in 1985. The highest value was 86,000 in 1989 and the lowest 0 in 2014.

How does Libya rank?

166th highest of 170 economies with data for 2020.

Where does this data come from?

The World Bank's World Development Indicators, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: The Military Balance, International Institute for Strategic Studies.

Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, indicator MS.MIL.TOTL.P1, licensed CC BY 4.0. Original source: The Military Balance, International Institute for Strategic Studies Figures are fetched from the World Bank API and refreshed monthly; see the series on data.worldbank.org. The full definition and method are in the World Bank's metadata glossary. Comparisons use the same World Bank release.

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