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As at 1 April 2025, there were 181,890 people in the UK armed forces, a 1% decrease compared with the previous year.[1] This total includes:

  • all full-time service personnel (known as the UK regular forces) and Gurkhas, who comprise 77.7% of the total number of personnel
  • volunteer reserves (17.5% of the total personnel)
  • other personnel, including the serving regular reserve, sponsored reserve and military provost guard service (4.8% of the total personnel)

The total size of the full-time UK armed forces, comprising the UK regular forces, Gurkhas and full-time reserve service, was around 147,000. Of these, 82,000 were army personnel, 33,000 were members of the Royal Navy or Royal Marines, and 32,000 belonged to the Royal Air Force.

Figure 1 shows the size of the full-time UK armed forces from 1 April 2012 to 1 April 2025. The number of personnel has decreased by a fifth, from around 186,000 in 2012.

Figure 1. Full-time UK armed forces personnel as at 1 April 2012–25

Chart showing a decrease in full-time UK armed forces personnel from 186,000 in 2012 to 147,000 in 2025.

There were 29,740 officers in the full-time UK armed forces, compared with 117,560 personnel of other ranks. As figure 2 shows, almost half of these were officers in the army (13,940). However, proportionately, the army had the fewest officers of the services (17%), whereas 26% of Royal Air Force personnel were officers, and 23% of the Royal Navy and Royal Marines.

Figure 2. Proportion of officers in the UK armed forces

Bar chart comparing officer numbers across the Army, Royal Navy/Royal Marines, and Royal Air Force. The army has the most personnel, with around 14,000 officers and 68,000 personnel in other ranks. The Royal Navy/Royal Marines and Royal Air Force both have around 8,000 officers and around 25,000 personnel in other ranks.

In the 12 months up to 31 March 2024, the number of people joining the UK regular forces (intake) was 1,140 lower than the number of people leaving (outflow). Compared with the previous year, the number of people joining had increased by 19.1% and the number of people leaving had decreased by 7.3%. Leavers have outnumbered joiners since 2010, except for a period from 2020 to 2021.

Figure 3. Annual joiners and leavers of the UK regular forces, 2012/13 to 2024/25

Line chart showing the number of people joining and leaving the UK regular forces each year. 25,000 people left in 2012/13 after which the number trended downwards to around 15,000 with slight fluctuations each year. The number of joiners has fluctuated just below 15,000, rising above 15,000 to overtake the number of leavers in 2019/20 and 2020/21.

1. Women in the UK regular forces

Of the 137,000 people serving in the UK regular forces, 16,300 were women, 11.9% of the total. The service with the largest proportion of women was the Royal Air Force, where women make up 16.1% of personnel, as shown in figure 4. Women make up 11.3% of the combined Royal Navy and Royal Marines total; however, only 1.8% of Royal Marines are women compared with 13.7% of Royal Navy personnel. Women make up 10.4% of personnel in the army.

Figure 4. Proportion of women in the UK regular forces on 1 April 2025

Bar chart showing the proportion of women in each service. Women make up 11.9% of overall personnel, 10.4% of army personnel, 16.1% of RAF personnel, and 11.3% of combined Royal Navy and Royal Marines personnel.

2. UK armed forces equipment

As at 1 April 2024, (the most recent date for which statistics are available) the UK armed forces had the following equipment:[2]

  • Maritime equipment: 10 submarines and 70 vessels, including two aircraft carriers, six destroyers and 11 frigates.
  • Land equipment: 843 armoured personnel carriers, 1,513 protected mobility vehicles and 960 armoured fighting vehicles.
  • Air equipment: 556 fixed-wing aircraft and 268 rotary-wing aircraft, as well as 183 uncrewed aircraft systems.

3. Read more

Cover image by AS1 Jake Hobbs RAF; UK Ministry of Defence © Crown copyright 2025.

References

  1. Ministry of Defence, ‘Quarterly service personnel statistics: 1 April 2025’, updated 29 May 2025. Return to text
  2. Ministry of Defence, ‘UK armed forces equipment and formations 2024’, 27 February 2025. Return to text