Armed forces, share of workers around the world

Armed forces, share of workers, 2020: highest in Eritrea, at 13.29% of the labour force, and lowest in Palestinian Territories, at 0% of the labour force, of 168 countries with a value. The world as a whole: 0.79% of the labour force in 2020.

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% of the labour force · IISS

IndiaChinaUnited StatesIndonesiaPakistanWorld

Every country, by its latest figure

% of the labour force · IISS

#	Country	Latest	Year
1	Eritrea	13.29	2020
2	North Korea	8.62	2020
3	Syria	5.44	2020
4	Maldives	5.41	2000
5	Djibouti	5.4	2020
6	São Tomé & Príncipe	5.1	1999
7	Montenegro	4.66	2020
8	Iraq	4.4	2020
9	Israel	4.23	2020
10	Lebanon	4.1	2020
11	Laos	4.08	2020
12	Jordan	3.98	2020
13	Sri Lanka	3.74	2020
14	Brunei	3.57	2020
15	Venezuela	3.47	2020
16	Armenia	3.25	2020
17	Greece	3.2	2020
18	Belarus	3.17	2020
19	Turkmenistan	2.87	2020
20	Algeria	2.81	2020
21	Egypt	2.76	2020
22	Lithuania	2.48	2020
23	Iran	2.35	2020
24	Bhutan	2.34	2000
25	Bahrain	2.33	2020
26	Oman	2.12	2020
27	Morocco	2.07	2020
28	Cambodia	2.02	2020
29	South Korea	2.01	2020
30	Mauritania	2	2020
31	North Macedonia	2	2020
32	Russia	1.98	2020
33	Myanmar (Burma)	1.94	2020
34	Saudi Arabia	1.92	2020
35	Afghanistan	1.82	2020
36	Cyprus	1.81	2020
37	Singapore	1.72	2020
38	Colombia	1.7	2020
39	Namibia	1.67	2020
40	El Salvador	1.62	2020
41	Türkiye	1.61	2020
42	Azerbaijan	1.58	2020
43	Cuba	1.54	2020
44	Romania	1.52	2020
45	Dominican Republic	1.48	2020
46	Ukraine	1.43	2020
47	Nepal	1.4	2020
48	Georgia	1.39	2020
49	Italy	1.35	2020
50	Sudan	1.34	2020
51	Panama	1.33	2020
52	Uruguay	1.32	2020
53	Belize	1.32	2020
54	Chile	1.28	2020
55	Mongolia	1.27	2020
56	Pakistan	1.25	2020
57	Bolivia	1.21	2020
58	Bulgaria	1.18	2020
59	Tunisia	1.18	2020
60	South Sudan	1.18	2020
61	Croatia	1.17	2020
62	Thailand	1.13	2020
63	Fiji	1.13	2020
64	Qatar	1.07	2020
65	Poland	1.04	2020
66	Guyana	1.04	2020
67	Kuwait	1.03	2020
68	United Arab Emirates	1.02	2020
69	Serbia	1.01	2020
70	Portugal	1.01	2020
71	France	1	2020
72	Estonia	1	2020
73	Gabon	1	2020
74	Eswatini	0.98	1999
75	Hungary	0.95	2020
76	Vietnam	0.95	2020
77	Peru	0.94	2020
78	Botswana	0.92	2020
79	Bahamas	0.92	2020
80	Latvia	0.92	2020
81	Paraguay	0.88	2020
82	Zimbabwe	0.88	2020
83	Spain	0.87	2020
84	Angola	0.87	2020
85	Norway	0.85	2020
86	Suriname	0.85	2020
87	Chad	0.85	2020
88	United States	0.84	2020
89	Bosnia & Herzegovina	0.81	2020
90	Kyrgyzstan	0.81	2020
91	Malaysia	0.81	2020
92	Finland	0.8	2020
93	Trinidad & Tobago	0.77	2020
94	Brazil	0.76	2020
95	Tajikistan	0.75	2020
96	Kazakhstan	0.74	2020
97	Malta	0.73	2020
98	Rwanda	0.7	2020
99	Barbados	0.69	2020
100	Slovenia	0.68	2020
101	Slovakia	0.67	2020
102	Albania	0.65	2020
103	Mexico	0.64	2020
104	Guatemala	0.64	2020
105	Burundi	0.59	2020
106	Yemen	0.58	2020
107	India	0.58	2020
108	Gambia	0.58	2020
109	Honduras	0.56	2020
110	Congo - Brazzaville	0.55	2020
111	Mali	0.54	2020
112	Ecuador	0.54	2020
113	Central African Republic	0.54	2020
114	Guinea-Bissau	0.53	2020
115	Argentina	0.53	2020
116	Uzbekistan	0.52	2020
117	Mauritius	0.51	2020
118	Cape Verde	0.51	2020
119	Czechia	0.51	2020
120	Austria	0.5	2020
121	Denmark	0.49	2020
122	Indonesia	0.49	2020
123	Somalia	0.47	2020
124	Belgium	0.47	2020
125	United Kingdom	0.45	2020
126	Australia	0.44	2020
127	Germany	0.42	2020
128	Netherlands	0.42	2020
129	Costa Rica	0.41	2020
130	Jamaica	0.41	2020
131	Moldova	0.41	2020
132	Nicaragua	0.41	2020
133	Congo - Kinshasa	0.41	2020
134	Switzerland	0.4	2020
135	South Africa	0.4	2020
136	Japan	0.38	2020
137	Togo	0.38	2020
138	Senegal	0.37	2020
139	Philippines	0.37	2020
140	Ireland	0.37	2020
141	Timor-Leste	0.36	2020
142	Sierra Leone	0.35	2020
143	Canada	0.35	2020
144	New Zealand	0.35	2020
145	Cameroon	0.34	2020
146	China	0.33	2020
147	Bangladesh	0.32	2020
148	Guinea	0.32	2020
149	Luxembourg	0.31	2020
150	Ethiopia	0.28	2020
151	Sweden	0.27	2020
152	Côte d’Ivoire	0.25	2020
153	Lesotho	0.24	2020
154	Zambia	0.24	2020
155	Uganda	0.24	2020
156	Nigeria	0.23	2020
157	Benin	0.21	2020
158	Malawi	0.2	2020
159	Equatorial Guinea	0.16	2020
160	Madagascar	0.15	2020
161	Ghana	0.13	2020
162	Papua New Guinea	0.12	2020
163	Burkina Faso	0.12	2020
164	Kenya	0.11	2020
165	Niger	0.11	2020
166	Tanzania	0.1	2020
167	Liberia	0.09	2020
168	Mozambique	0.08	2020
169	Haiti	0.02	2020
170	Libya	0	2020
171	Iceland	0	2020
172	Palestinian Territories	0	2020

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Good to know

Active-duty military personnel as a share of everyone working or looking for work, by the IISS Military Balance.
Source: IISS, The Military Balance, via the World Bank.
The chart shows the 5 most populous countries with figures; the table ranks every country by its own latest year.

How the layers work, where their data comes from and what they can’t tell you: Countries through time