Armed forces personnel (% of total labor force) by country

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. Labor force comprises all people who meet the International Labour Organization's definition of the economically active population.

Limitations: Data exclude personnel not on active duty, therefore they underestimate the share of the labor force working for the defense establishment. Governments rarely report the size of their armed forces, so such data typically come from intelligence sources. Unless otherwise indicated, reserves includes all reservists committed to rejoining the armed forces in an emergency, except when national reserve service obligations following conscription last almost a lifetime.

Each country's latest available year is shown; countries report on different schedules, so compare years before comparing values.

Ranking

Regions and income groups

More public sector indicators

• Net acquisition of financial assets (current LCU)
• Net acquisition of financial assets (% of GDP)
• Central government debt, total (current LCU)
• Central government debt, total (% of GDP)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (current LCU)
• Net incurrence of liabilities, total (% of GDP)
• Net investment in nonfinancial assets (current LCU)
• Net investment in nonfinancial assets (% of GDP)
• Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (current LCU)
• Net lending (+) / net borrowing (-) (% of GDP)
• Grants and other revenue (current LCU)
• Grants and other revenue (% of revenue)

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Source

World Bank, World Development Indicators, MS.MIL.TOTL.TF.ZS, CC BY 4.0. Original source: The Military Balance, International Institute for Strategic Studies View on data.worldbank.org; the full definition is in the World Bank's metadata glossary.