in 1952, the size of the United Kingdom's Armed Forces has fallen considerably, to a low of just 138,120 personnel by 2024. As of the this year, the
are comprised of 75,320 personnel in the British Army, 30,800 in the Royal Air Force (RAF), and 32,000 in the Royal Navy. The majority of the Armed Forces were
this year, making up 121,900 of the personnel, compared with 16,220 women. Across all branches and ranks in the armed forces, the
of personnel was 31, with the RAF having the higher average age at 33.
New government launches strategic defence review
Shortly after winning the
UK General Election on July 4, 2024, the new Labour government announced a new strategic defence review, to analyze the state of the UK military, as well as potential geopolitical challenges it faces. A pledge to eventually spend 2.5
percent of GDP on defence by the previous government will also be implemented by Labour, with defence spending in 2024 expected to be 2.3 percent of GDP. As a comparison, defence spending as a share of GDP reached 5.5 percent in 1984, but fell considerably following the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s. There has also been a reduction in the size of the British Armed Forces, although this particular trend has been ongoing for some time. Despite attempts by Britain to hold onto its
empire after World War Two, the British Empire had virtually disappeared by the 1970s, lowering the number of conflicts that involved the UK, and reducing the need for the country to have a large standing army. In the 21st Century, the UK has been involved in several military operations, such as the
War in Afghanistan (2001-2021) and the Iraq War (2003-2011). In more recent years, the UK has been one of the main suppliers of
military aid to Ukraine, since the
Russian Invasion in 2022.
Operational deaths in the armed forces
After the end of the Second World War, the year with the highest number of
operational deaths in the British Armed Forces was 1951, when there were 829. In this year, Britain was involved in three different
conflicts, the Malay Emergency, the Anglo-Egyptian War, and the Korean War. By the 1960s, there were typically far fewer operational deaths, with a spike of 296 deaths occurring in 1982 due to the Falklands War. Britain's involvement in the War in Afghanistan and subsequent Iraq War from the early 2000s onwards led to increased operational deaths during that period. However, there have been far fewer fatalities in recent years, with 19 deaths reported between January 1, 2014, and February 29, 2024.
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Due to varying update cycles, statistics can display more up-to-date
data than referenced in the text.
