Military personnel in Russia 2024, by type
How many soldiers does Russia have? Russian Armed Forces had 3.57 million troops as of 2024, with 37 percent of them, or 1.32 million, being active military personnel. Two million were reserve service members, and 250,000 were paramilitary forces. The number of people in the Russian military was increased twice after the invasion of Ukraine; the respective presidential decrees came into force in January and December 2023.
Largest armies worldwide
The Russian Army had the fourth-largest available active military manpower in 2024, having shared that rank with North Korea. The militaries of China, India, and the United States had more active soldiers. In terms of defense spending, Russia ranked third after the U.S. and China, as the expenditure was estimated at 109 billion U.S. dollars in 2023.
Military personnel of Ukraine and NATO
Russia’s active troops outnumbered Ukraine’s by 420,000 as of 2024. Furthermore, reserve and paramilitary forces of Russia were higher. When comparing Russia’s active military personnel to that of the countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), it was roughly three times smaller. In total, NATO members were estimated to over 7.6 million troops, including active, reserve, and paramilitary units, as of 2024. The U.S., Turkey, and Poland have the largest armies in NATO.
