Suffrago UK Data Hub
RankingsVerificationMethods

Independent service run by Suffrago – not an official government website. Every figure comes from an official UK publisher under its open licence and is checked against that source each time the data is refreshed.

UK regular armed forces by service

Trained and untrained UK regular personnel in the Naval Service, the Army and the Royal Air Force at the start of each quarter since April 2012. Gurkhas and reserves are not included.

UK regular forces

137,482

1 Jul 2026

Verified against source, 27 October 2026, 05:50 UTC
UK regular armed forces by service
  • Naval Service
  • Army
  • Royal Air Force
050k100k150k1 Apr 121 Oct 141 Apr 171 Oct 191 Apr 221 Oct 241 Jul 26

Source: Ministry of Defence. Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.

Data table

58 periods, newest first

PeriodNaval ServiceArmyRoyal Air Force
1 Jul 202632,43373,65731,392
1 Apr 202632,51674,36831,082
1 Jan 202632,37573,79030,792
1 Oct 202532,15674,27330,673
1 Jul 202531,99373,49030,547
1 Apr 202532,15274,39630,450
1 Jan 202531,90673,84730,364
1 Oct 202431,81274,61230,437
1 Jul 202431,67274,29630,557
1 Apr 202432,00075,32530,796
1 Jan 202431,90675,16631,025
1 Oct 202332,13175,98331,378
1 Jul 202332,36376,22531,714
1 Apr 202332,84077,53632,180
1 Jan 202333,00978,05932,490
1 Oct 202233,38879,13932,739
1 Jul 202233,75179,37733,143
1 Apr 202233,92980,73033,319
1 Jan 202233,91580,97633,325
1 Oct 202134,12782,04033,378
1 Jul 202134,04581,81633,371
1 Apr 202133,84882,23133,201
1 Jan 202133,52380,81132,918
1 Oct 202033,38480,04032,907
1 Jul 202033,05078,87632,820
1 Apr 202032,75579,62432,938
1 Jan 202032,64078,61932,769
1 Oct 201932,60079,33032,723
1 Jul 201932,46978,48132,832
1 Apr 201932,53779,02932,862
1 Jan 201932,37978,35832,690
1 Oct 201832,53879,64432,716
1 Jul 201832,38479,89632,848
1 Apr 201832,48381,11632,957
1 Jan 201832,44681,70932,878
1 Oct 201732,42782,20732,891
1 Jul 201732,45882,61133,006
1 Apr 201732,54483,56133,261
1 Jan 201732,43783,60733,232
1 Oct 201632,49584,48833,267
1 Jul 201632,52984,32833,363
1 Apr 201632,50285,03833,456
1 Jan 201632,39884,96333,542
1 Oct 201532,48386,08533,585
1 Jul 201532,59386,06433,723
1 Apr 201532,73987,05833,927
1 Jan 201532,88087,14034,195
1 Oct 201432,90289,20334,522
1 Jul 201433,07989,47634,939
1 Apr 201433,33491,06635,227
1 Jan 201433,33791,79835,515
1 Oct 201333,51697,02835,917
1 Jul 201333,68398,02736,368
1 Apr 201333,95999,72637,027
1 Jan 201334,29099,73837,457
1 Oct 201234,684102,75838,495
1 Jul 201235,252103,59139,441
1 Apr 201235,545104,25440,005

Download CSVDownload JSON with full provenance

Source and licence

Publisher
Ministry of Defence
Check it yourself
https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-index
Licence
Open Government Licence v3.0 – Contains public sector information licensed under the Open Government Licence v3.0.
Retrieved
27 October 2026, 05:48 UTC
Raw files fetched

Verification

Verified against source, 27 October 2026, 05:50 UTC Run at 27 October 2026, 05:50 UTC; 174 of 174 figures matched the live source.

ResultCheckDetail
PassProvenance recordedMinistry of Defence; Open Government Licence v3.0; retrieved 2026-10-27T05:48:53Z; 2 raw file(s)
PassRaw files match recorded SHA-2562 of 2 files intact
PassRe-parsing raw files reproduces figures174 of 174 figures and the headline reproduced
PassFigures are finite numbers174 figures, 0 invalid
PassLive source matches every figure174 of 174 figures match exactly after downloading 2 source file(s) again (2 byte-identical); the headline matches
PassGOV.UK table is currentlatest period 2026-07-01 ended 118 days before retrieval (limit 200), from Accessible Excel tables to the UK armed forces quarterly service personnel statistics 1 July 2026
PassThe services add up to the tri-service total58 of 58 dates: the three services sum to the UK Regular Forces row of sheet 1
PassODS edition agrees174 of 174 figures match https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/media/6ab2747c997a4b2950cced1b/Accessible_ODS_tables_to_the_UK_armed_forces_quarterly_service_personnel_statisti.ods
PassSource page answershttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-index – HTTP 200

Notes

  • The Naval Service is the Royal Navy and the Royal Marines. The MoD marks breaks in its time series where it changed how it counts; the figures either side are still published as one series.