UK Armed Forces numbers drop by almost a third in 23 years, MOD data reveals

Since 2000, the UK's three military services have seen a fall of almost 32% in the number of personnel they have – a combination of cuts and recruitment challenges – the Ministry of Defence (MOD) has revealed.

Whether it be Britain potentially preparing itself to form a "citizen army" in the event of war with countries such as Russia or strict medical rules meaning even members of England's rugby team would struggle to join the Army, recruitment has been a key issue across the tri-service.

Data released by the MOD following a parliamentary question from Scottish National MSP Alan Brown has revealed further strong evidence of the dramatic drop-off of personnel across the forces leading to more questions about recruitment and retention.

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Overall figures for personnel across all services showed a 31.7% decrease in numbers from 207,000 in 2000 to 141,480 last year, a fall of 65,200.

Army

The head of the British Army recently said increasing Army numbers ahead of a potential conflict would need to be a "whole-of-nation undertaking".

General Sir Patrick Sanders, the outgoing Chief of the General Staff, has pushed for greater readiness of Britain's Armed Forces before.

In 2022, months after Russian President Vladimir Putin invaded Ukraine, the Army chief said: "This is our 1937 moment."

Comparing the situation to the build-up to the Second World War in 1937, the Chief of the General Staff said Britain must be prepared to "act rapidly" to ensure it was not drawn into a full-scale conflict through its failure to contain Russian expansionism.

Numbers in the Army, according to the latest MOD data, have decreased from 109,600 in 2000, to 76,950 in 2023, a drop of 29.8% in personnel.

In January, Forces News reported that Army recruitment for other ranks has been below target every year since 2010, according to data released by the MOD.

According to the data, Basic Training Starts (BTS) Targets for British Army Other Ranks by financial year were at a shortfall of 22,350 from the 119,530 total targets from 2010 to 2023.

The Army has recently been challenged to examine its recruitment process after a recruitment chief said even the current England rugby team "would struggle" to join the Army.

MPs heard that strict medical tests for joining the Army mean it can take 150 days for would-be recruits to join up, delaying the process and impacting recruitment targets.

It is important to note that while there are reported recruitment issues, between 2010 and 2015 the Army was reduced from 102,000 trade-trained personnel to 82,000.

This reduction was set out in the 2010 Strategic Defence and Security Review and a subsequent review in 2011 and was to be achieved through a combination of redundancy, people leaving and reduced intake.

And in March 2021, the then Defence Secretary Ben Wallace announced that the Army would be further reduced to 72,500 by 2025, scrapping the 82,000 target.

Royal Navy and Royal Marines

The MOD data revealed that the Royal Navy and Royal Marines have also a 23.9% decrease in personnel numbers from from 2000 (42,800) to 2023 (32,590).

In November, a recent Freedom of Information (FOI) request revealed that the Royal Navy's recruitment dropped to its lowest number since 2017.

This includes those who enter the non-commissioned basic training and the request revealed that from April 2022 to April 2023, 2,453 people were recruited to the Royal Navy.

This represented a drop of more than 800 from the previous year – and the lowest it has been since 2017.

The Navy, like the other forces, has been publicly grappling with a shrinking workforce and has identified recruitment and retention as an issue it needs to address.

The UK's Minister for Defence Procurement James Cartlidge said earlier this month that the Government is "absolutely committed to supporting defence jobs across the piece".

He acknowledged to the Commons the recruitment challenges currently facing Britain's Armed Forces, saying: "Obviously we have recruitment challenges in terms of our personnel but we also have to support British industry and that is why we have the Secretary of State leading in his role as shipbuilding tsar."

The defence minister's assurances came after reports that the Royal Navy was offering a bounty of £500 to personnel who refer a candidate to the service.

RAF

The Royal Air Force has also gone through public recruitment issues, which saw the head of the RAF apologising unreservedly in June for a diversity drive that illegally discriminated against white men.

Following an inquiry, Chief of the Air Staff Air Chief Marshal Sir Rich Knighton confirmed that in 2020 and 2021, 161 candidates who were either women or from ethnic minority backgrounds, were accelerated into training places ahead of other candidates.

In a statement, ACM Knighton admitted that some men were discriminated against, citing a group of 31 men who likely missed out on a £5,000 joining bonus.

According to the MOD data, the number of personnel in the RAF has seen a 41.5% drop, falling from 54,600 in 2000, to 31,940 in 2023.

The results

A full list of annual personnel numbers from across the services, from 2000 to last year, is listed below, as detailed by the MOD.