In April 2024, 13.1% of people in non-officer roles in the armed forces were from ethnic minorities, compared with 7.9% in April 2012.

In 2025, there were around 137,000 regular personnel serving in the British Armed Forces, compared with 138,000 in the previous year. In the first half of the twentieth century, there were two huge spikes in the number of active personnel which represented the final years of World War One and World War Two, numbering 4.58 million and 4.69 million in 1918 and 1945 respectively. Ever since 1945, the size of the regular armed forces has been in almost constant decline, with the noticeable exception of the early 1950s, when the number of active personnel increased by almost 200,000 because of the Korean War. The winds of change There are several reasons why the number of personnel in Britain’s armed forces has declined. Britain is involved in a far fewer conventional military conflicts today than it was in the past. As the size of Britain’s empire declined rapidly after 1945, so too did the UK's global military commitments. There are also more recent developments, such as the UK government’s Strategic Defence and Security Review of 2010, which outlined personnel would be cut throughout the 2010s to modernize the UK’s armed forces. Recent geopolitical events such as the War in Ukraine have, however, led to commitments from the UK government to spend more on defence, and eventually even a reversal of personnel cuts. Branches of the UK military There are three main branches of the UK armed forces, the British Army, the Royal Navy, the Royal Air Force, and the Royal Marines. Of the 181,000 people serving in the UK’s armed forces in 2025, over half of them were in the British Army, which had around 109,000 personnel. The next largest branch was the Royal Navy at 37,900, followed by the RAF at 34,800 personnel. The average age for people serving in the armed forces was 31 in 2024, with the Royal Air Force having a slightly higher average age group than the other branches, at 33.

In 2025, there were approximately ******* men in the armed forces of the United Kingdom, and ****** women. The reduction in personnel witnessed by the British Armed Forces recently is the result of a conscious attempt by previous UK governments to cut costs and modernize the military. This policy was informed by the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review, which, among other things, sought to replace many full-time regulars with reservists, and to end the UK’s permanent deployment in Germany. Cuts across air land and sea While the army has born the brunt of these cuts to personnel, all branches of the armed forces have also had to contend with the same issue. While the share of GDP spent on defence has recently started to increase, over the long term, the UK has spent far less on defence since the end of the Cold War. In 2022/23, the UK spent *** percent of GDP on defence, slightly above the current minimum NATO requirement of *** percent of GDP. Recent geopolitical events, such as the Russian invasion of Ukraine, have led to renewed calls for increased defence spending, with the new NATO target of 3.5 percent agreed at the 2025 summit. Age of personnel In 2025, the average age across all ranks and branches in the UK armed forces was **. This was the average age for all branches of the armed forces, except for the RAF, which had an average age of **. During the same year, there were approximately ****** people aged between 18 and 29 in the armed forces, compared with ****** people aged between 30 and 49. In this year, the number of people aged 50 or over in the Armed Force was ******.

In 2025, there were approximately 181,000 personnel in the armed forces of the United Kingdom, 109,170 of which were in the British Army, 37,900 in the Royal Navy and 34,830 in the Royal Air Force. Regular personnel at historical lows in 2025 Overall, there has been a long-term decline in the size of the armed forces, with the number of personnel declining from over 200,000 in 2000, to around 137,000 by 2025. In fact, the size of the armed forces has been in almost constant decline since the end of the Second World War. Britain's retreat from its colonial empire throughout this period removed many of the UK's overseas commitments, with the end of the Cold War also leading to further cuts to personnel. This has also corresponded with cuts in defence spending, which fell from 4.6 percent of GDP in the mid-1980s, to just 1.8 percent in the late 2010s Operational deaths since the Second World War Since 1945, there have been 7,193 operational deaths in the United Kingdom’s armed forces, with the deadliest year occurring in 1951 when there were 851 deaths. This was due to three separate conflicts: the Malayan Emergency, the 1951 Anglo-Egyptian War and the Korean War. Since 1959, there were only three years that had more than 100 operational deaths: 1972, 1973 and 1982. By comparison, between 2016 and 2024, there have been only nine operational deaths, with just one death reported since 2023.

In 2024, the average age for personnel in the UK Armed Forces overall was 31 years old. The average age of those serving in the British Army was also **, with the average age rising to ** for the Royal Navy and Marines, and was ** for the Royal Air Force (RAF). The average age for officers in the Armed Forces was **, with this rising to ** for officers in the Royal Air Force. Personnel falls to historical lows in 2024 Overall, there has been a long-term decline in the size of the armed forces, with the number of personnel declining from over ******* in 2000, to around ******* by 2024. In fact, the size of the armed forces has been in almost constant decline since the end of World War Two. Britain's retreat from its colonial empire throughout this period removed many of the UK's overseas commitments, with the end of the Cold War also leading to further cuts to personnel. Operational deaths since the Second World War Since 1945 there have been ***** operational deaths in the United Kingdom’s armed forces, with the deadliest year occurring in 1951 when there were *** deaths. This was due to three separate conflicts: the Malayan Emergency, the 1951 Anglo-Egyptian War and the Korean War. Since 1959, there were only three years that had more than 100 operational deaths: 1972, 1973 and 1982. By comparison, between 2016 and 2024, there have been only **** operational deaths, with just *** death reported throughout the whole of 2023.

In 2025, there were approximately ****** regular personnel in the British Armed Forces aged between 18 and 29, compared with ****** aged between 30 and 49, and ****** aged 50 and over.

Data for feasibility research on producing statistics of the UK armed forces veteran population in England and Wales, using administrative data and Census 2021.

This dataset is an analysis of the Characteristics by previous service as a regular or reserve in the UK armed forces from Census 2021.

People who have previously served in the UK armed forces includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in.

Country of birth

The country in which a person was born. For people not born in one of in the four parts of the UK, there was an option to select "elsewhere". People who selected "elsewhere" were asked to write in the current name for their country of birth.

Ethnic group and high-level ethnic group

The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options. High-level ethnic group refers to the first stage of the two-stage ethnic group question. High-level groups refer to the first stage where the respondent identifies through one of the following options: * "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh" * "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African" * "Mixed or Multiple" * "White" * "Other ethnic group"

General health

A person's assessment of the general state of their health from very good to very bad. This assessment is not based on a person's health over any specified period of time.

Legal partnership status

Classifies a person according to their legal marital or registered civil partnership status on Census Day 21 March 2021.

Religion

The religion people connect or identify with (their religious affiliation), whether or not they practice or have belief in it. This question was voluntary, and the variable includes people who answered the question, including “No religion”, alongside those who chose not to answer this question. This variable classifies responses into the eight tick-box response options. Write-in responses are classified by their "parent" religious affiliation, including “No religion”, where applicable.

Usual resident

A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

UK armed forces veteran

People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in foreign armed forces, or those who have served in the UK armed forces and are currently living outside of England and Wales.

This is a quarterly publication containing requirements, strengths, intake and outflow from the UK Armed Forces. This data is broken down by Service, Officer/Rank, Training Indicator, gender and ethnicity. Outflow information by Service, officer/rank and exit reason, including Voluntary Outflow, is also shown. Source agency: Defence Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: UKAFQMS

A compendium listing all the revisions to strengths and flows for MPR between flow statistics form the period ending 31 March 2009 to the period ending 31 October 2011 and strength statistics from 1 May 2009 to 1 October 2011.

Source agency: Defence

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: MPR

Characteristics of usual residents by whether they have previously served in the UK armed forces, with adjusted estimates for the non-veteran population, Census 2021.

This is a quarterly publication containing requirements, strengths, intake and outflow from the UK Armed Forces. This data is broken down by Service, Officer/Rank, Training Indicator, gender and ethnicity. Outflow information by Service, officer/rank and exit reason, including Voluntary Outflow, is also shown.

Source agency: Defence

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: UKAFQMS

This dataset provides information on where UK armed forces veterans lived: usual residents, aged 16 years and over by whether they have previously served in the UK armed forces in England and Wales.

Child family status

Identifies whether a person is living in a family with a child and has specific categories for those who have children based on the relationship of the parent couple, those not in a family and those who are children in a family are grouped together. Categories were: • has children (in a lone parent family, married couple family, civil partnership family or cohabiting couple family) • does not have children or is a child within a family • living in a communal establishment

Dependent Child

A dependent child is a person aged 0 to 15 years in a household or a person aged 16 to 18 years who is in full-time education and lives in a family with their parent, parents, grandparent or grandparents. It does not include any person aged 16 to 18 years who has a spouse, partner or child living in the household

Ethnic group and high-level ethnic group

The ethnic group that the person completing the census feels they belong to. This could be based on their culture, family background, identity or physical appearance. Respondents could choose one out of 19 tick-box response categories, including write-in response options. High-level ethnic group refers to the first stage of the two-stage ethnic group question. High-level groups refer to the first stage where the respondent identifies through one of the following options: "Asian, Asian British, Asian Welsh" "Black, Black British, Black Welsh, Caribbean or African" "Mixed or Multiple" "White" "Other ethnic group"

Family

A family is a group of people who are either: • married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with or without children (the children do not need to belong to both members of the couple) • a lone parent with children • a married, civil partnered or cohabiting couple with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present • a single or couple grandparent with grandchildren but where the parents of those grandchildren are not present

Family status

Denotes whether a person is considered to be in a family and the place a person holds within that family. Categories were: • not in a family • in a couple family (as a member of the couple or a dependent or non-dependent child of one or both members of the couple) • in a lone parent family (as a parent or a dependent or non-dependent child of the parent) • living in a communal establishment

Household

A household is defined as one person living alone or a group of people (not necessarily related) living at the same address who share cooking facilities and a living room or dining area. This includes all sheltered accommodation units in an establishment and all people living in caravans on any type of site that is their usual residence. A household must contain at least one person whose place of usual residence is at the address. A group of short-term residents living together is not classified as a household, and neither is a group of people at an address where only visitors are staying.

Household size

The number of people in the household. Visitors staying at an address do not count to that household’s size. Living arrangements This classification combines responses to the Census question on marital and civil partnership status with information about whether or not a person is living in a couple. This topic is only applicable to people in households. Living arrangements differs from marital and civil partnership status because cohabiting takes priority over other categories. For example, if a person is divorced and cohabiting, then in results for living arrangements they are classified as cohabiting.

UK armed forces veteran

People who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in HM’s Armed Forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations. It does not include those who have left and since re-entered the regular or reserve UK armed forces, those who have only served in foreign armed forces, or those who have served in the UK armed forces and are currently living outside of England and Wales.

Usual resident

A usual resident is anyone who on Census Day, 21 March 2021, was in the UK and had stayed or intended to stay in the UK for a period of 12 months or more, or had a permanent UK address and was outside the UK and intended to be outside the UK for less than 12 months.

This is a monthly publication containing requirements, strengths, intake and outflow from the UK Armed Forces by Service. Voluntary Outflow information by Service is also shown.

Source agency: Defence

Designation: National Statistics

Language: English

Alternative title: UKAFMMS

A compendium listing all the revisions to strengths and flows for QPR between flow statistics form the period ending 31 March 2009 to the period ending 31 October 2011 and strength statistics from 1 May 2009 to 1 October 2011. Source agency: Defence Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: UK Armed Forces Quarterly Personnel Statistics Revision Compendium

As of the third quarter of 2025, there were almost 108,200 regular personnel in the British Army, compared with almost 139,000 in the second quarter of 2012.

Military search and rescue statistics. Source agency: Defence Designation: National Statistics Language: English Alternative title: SAR Quarterly

In 2025, there were around ******* service personnel in the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence, compared with ******* in 2012.

Weighted estimates and confidence intervals of personal characteristics, The Veterans' Survey 2022, UK