List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel

Countries by number of active soldiers (2015)

This is a list of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel. It includes any government-sponsored soldiers used to further the domestic and foreign policies of their respective government. The term "country" is used in its most common use, in the sense of state which exercises sovereignty or has limited recognition.

Guide to the list

The list consists of columns that can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate title:

The names of the states, accompanied by their respective national flags.
The number of military personnel on active duty that are currently serving full-time in their military capacity.
The number of military personnel in the reserve forces that are not normally kept under arms, whose role is to be available to mobilize when necessary.
The number of personnel in paramilitary forces: armed units that are not considered part of a nation's formal military forces.
The total number of active, reserve, and paramilitary personnel.
The ratio per thousand inhabitants of total military (active, reserve, and paramilitary).
The ratio per thousand inhabitants of active military only.

As military forces around the world are constantly changing in size, no definitive list can ever be compiled.

All of the 178 countries listed here, especially those with the highest number of total soldiers such as the two Koreas and Vietnam, include a large number of paramilitaries, civilians and policemen in their reserve personnel. Some countries, such as Italy and Japan, have only volunteers in their armed forces. Other countries, such as Mauritius and Panama, have no national armies, but only a paramilitary force.

Tooth-to-tail ratio

The numbers of military personnel listed include both support personnel (supplies, construction, and contracting) and actual combat personnel. For a typical country, the proportion of this total that comprises actual combat forces is about 26%Template:Cn (so, for every soldier there will be around three support personnel). This proportion is referred to as the "tooth-to-tail ratio".

Some countries have a considerably smaller tooth-to-tail ratio: For example, the United States Armed Forces has a tooth-to-tail ratio of 17%, meaning that for every combat unit there are around five support units.^[1]

File:Countries by military per capita.svg

Military personnel per capita

List by the International Institute for Strategic Studies

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According to International Institute for Strategic Studies
Country	ActiveTemplate:Brmilitary	ReserveTemplate:Brmilitary	Paramilitary	Total	Per 1,000Template:Brcapita Template:Br(total)	Per 1,000Template:Brcapita Template:Br(active)	Ref

Not included in the list are the militaries of Abkhazia, Libya, Northern Cyprus, Palestine, Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, Somaliland, Syria and South Ossetia.

Notes

↑ Improving the DoD's Tooth-to-Tail Ratio. Revision{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}(1 February 2014)

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References

Bibliography

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The Military Balance 2011{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(2 March 2011). ISBN 978-1-85-743606-8
The Military Balance 2012{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(7 March 2012). ISBN 978-1-85-743642-6
The Military Balance 2013{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(14 March 2013). ISBN 978-1-85-743680-8
The Military Balance 2014{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(3 February 2014). ISBN 978-1-85-743722-5
The Military Balance 2018{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(14 February 2018). ISBN 978-1-85-743-955-7
The Military Balance 2019{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(15 February 2019). ISBN 978-1-857-43988-5
The Military Balance 2020{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(14 February 2020). ISBN 978-0-367-46639-8
The Military Balance 2021{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(25 February 2021). ISBN 978-1-032-01227-8
The Military Balance 2024{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(13 February 2024). ISBN 978-1-032-78004-7
The Military Balance 2025{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(12 February 2025). ISBN 978-1-003-63076-0
The Military Balance 2026{{#if:|, {{{last}}}}. Routledge(24 February 2026). ISBN 978-1-040-93228-5