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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal – Vol. 10, No. 6
Publication Date: June 25, 2023
DOI:10.14738/assrj.106.14874.
Matthijs, H. (2023). The Evolution of The Military Personnel in The Nato Member States. Advances in Social Sciences Research
Journal, 10(6). 537-544.
Services for Science and Education – United Kingdom
The Evolution of The Military Personnel in The Nato Member
States
Herman Matthijs
University Ghent & Free University of Brussels
ABSTRACT
Based at the latest NATO annual report (NATO, 2022) this article examines the
number of military personnel in the NATO (North Atlantic Treaty Organization)
member states between 2014 and 2022. These two years are taken as a result of the
NATO decisions at the Wales summit in 2014 to increase the defence expenditures
against 2024 to 2 % of the national GDP in every member and also to invest at least
20 % of the national military budget in new material for the different army parts.
Keywords: NATO, military personnel, military budgets
INTRODUCTION
This article researches the evolution of the military personnel in 30 of the 31 NATO member
states with exception of Iceland, because this country doesn’t have an army but only a coast
guard of approximately 200 men. Since the spring of 2023 is Finland the newest NATO member.
The indicated annual report doesn’t have the figures for this Scandinavian country. Therefore,
this study is based at the Finnish reports. In the 2022 NATO annual report the methodology for
counting the number of military personnel contains also unites as the coast guard (f.e. the US
coast guard which is an armed force with about 50 thousand personnel) but not the military
police forces which are still existing is several NATO countries. (f.e. “Gendarmerie nationale” in
France with about 110thousand men, “Carabinieri” in Italy with 110thousand men, “Guardia
Civil” in Spain with 77thousaned men, “de Koninklijke Marechaussee” in the Netherlands with
about 7700 personnel). Nevertheless, the budgets of this military police forces are counted in
the total of military expenditures concerning the NATO methodology, but not their number of
personnel!
This study doesn’t analyse the impact of the military service, which exists in several nations (f.e.
Finland, Turkey). The mentioned figures are the NATO facts about the professional troops.
The main question in this study is how did the number of military personnel evaluated from
2014 until 2022 and what is the impact in the national military budgets?
MILITARY PERSONNEL
The first table of this study gives an overview of the number of military personnel between
2014 and 2022, as published in the NATO annual report 2022.
The first row gives the place of the NATO member in the list of personnel based at the figures
2022, going from high to low. After the country name, between brackets, the respective place
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 6, June-2023
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in the year 2014. The next line mentions the number of military personnel and the country
share in the NATO total amount.
In the year 2014 the total number of NATO military personnel was upgraded to 3.255.000 and
in 2022 it was 3.341.000 men or an increase of nearly 85thousand men. This is included the
figures for the latest members: Montenegro in 2017, North Macedonia in 2020 and recently
Finland in the spring of 2023. This table takes only the countries with an army with more then
20thousend men in the year 2022. The share percentage is limited till greater than 1% of the
NATO global total of military personnel.
Table: I Number & Share Military Personnel (In Thousands of Men)
Place 2022-2014 2014 2022 2014 2022
1. USA (1) 1.338 1.348 41,1 % 40,3 %
2. Turkey (2) 426 446 13,1 % 13,3 %
3. France (3) 207 207 6,3 % 6,2 %
4. FRG (5) 178 188 5,5 % 5,6 %
5. Italy (4) 183 174 5,6 % 5,2 %
6. UK (6) 168 156 5,1 % 4,6 %
7. Poland (8) 99 122 3,0 % 3,6 %
8. Spain (7) 121 118 3,7 % 3,5 %
9. Greece (9) 107 111 3,3 % 3,3 %
10. Romania (11) 65 78 2,0 % 2,3 %
11. Canada (10) 66 76 2,0 % 2,2 %
12. The Netherlands (12) 41 41 1,2 % 1,2 %
13. Bulgaria (15) 27 27
13. Czech rep. (18) 20 27
14. Portugal (13) 31 26
15. Finland (16) 26 26
16. Norway (17) 21 23
17. Belgium (14) 30 22
18. Hungary (19) 17 21
Over these years 19 members have an army of more than 20.000 persons. The US army has
increased the total number of personnel to a limited extend, but with a share of 40% this
country overwhelmed everyone. Only 12 countries have a share of more than 1% in the NATO
total number. This indicates the fact that a lot of member states have a small army comparing
with this total of military personnel. Over these studied years there is an increase for Turkey,
Germany, Poland Canada, Romania, and the Czech Republic. The decrease of number is related
with the following countries: Italy, the United Kingdom, Portugal and Belgium.
If this study counts the shares of the two North American members have a share of 42,5%! With
the shares of Turkey and the non- EU state: the United Kingdom are counting with this North
American percentage; it’s increasing till 60,4% of the NATO personnel. The 22 European Union
members of the NATO (NOT: Austria, Cyprus, Ireland, Malta and Sweden) have together a share
of about 38% or 1.269thousand military personnel. This is also except the non -EU states in the
military alliance: Albania, Iceland, Montenegro, Norway and North Macedonia.
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Matthijs, H. (2023). The Evolution of The Military Personnel in The Nato Member States. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(6). 537-
544.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.106.14874
The increase of military personnel is to be determined for sure in the NATO states near the
Russian border.
Concerning the shares there is not only an important difference between the USA and Turkey ,
but also between this little Asian member and the greater European members ( France etc. ).
The next table in this study gives the division per category of the number of military personnel
in the 30 studied states with exception of Iceland.
Table: II Category of Armies
2014 2022
• Plus 400.000 2 2
• 200.000-400.000 1 1
• 100.000-200.000 5 6
• 50.000-100.000 3 2
• 25.000-50.000 5 5
• 12.500-25.000 4 7
• Under 12.500 10 7
In the first category we do find the US and Turkey. In the second group is France the only army
with a strength between 200 and 400 thousand military personnel. The next group with the UK,
Spain, Italy, Germany and Greece is in 2022 expanded with Poland. This east European NATO
country increased the number of personnel over these years with more than 20%! The two
armies with an armed force between 50 and 100 thousand are Canada and Romania. This last
country has a border with Ukraine and Moldavia, that’s partly occupied by the Russians. The
growth of the Canadian army can be explained as result of the geo political position of this
nation in the northern arctic region and the future importance of the north pole area.
In the group 25 till 50 thousand there are the same four countries: the Netherlands, Bulgaria,
Finland and Portugal. Belgium has lost this category and the Czech Republic joined it.
Between 12500 and 25.000 men four countries were and are there situated: Norway, Denmark,
Croatia and Hungary. Belgium descends from the upper category. The Slovak republic
increased, over these years, from 12.300 till 13.800 men. The Baltic state Lithuania upgraded
his army from 8.600 till 17.200 men.
The smallest armies are located in Albania (6.600 men), Estonia (6.900), Latvia (7.500),
Luxembourg (900 men), Montenegro (1.700 men), North Macedonia (6.200 men) and Slovenia
(5.900 men).
Over the studied years the results of these 30 countries are as follow:
• Sq in total military personnel: Albania, Bulgaria, Croatia, Denmark, Finland, France,
Luxembourg and the Netherlands or eight countries,
• A decrease of the number in: Belgium, Italy, Montenegro, North Macedonia, Portugal,
Slovenia, Spain and the United Kingdom or seven countries,
• In 15 countries the number of military personnel increased comparing between the
years 2014 and 2022.
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 6, June-2023
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In figures the greatest increase and decrease are related with the following countries:
• Turkey plus 20thousand, Poland plus 23thousand, Romania plus 13thousand, Canada
plus 11thousand and Germany plus 10.000 men.
• The United Kingdom minus 12thousand, Italy minus 9thouand an Belgium minus 8.000
men
In percentages the most important evolutions are the following one:
• Increase: Lithuania 100% (from 8.600 to 17.200), Latvia plus 62% over these years,
Czech Republic plus 26%, Poland plus 23%, Romania plus 20%, Hungary plus 19%,
Canada plus 16%, federal republic plus 6% and Turkey plus 5%;
• Decrease: minus 26% Belgium, Portugal minus 12%, United Kingdom minus 8% and
Italy minus 5%.
The next table of this article classifies the members in categories in relation to their share
concerning the personnel cost in the total national defence budget, with exception of Iceland
and also Finland. For this Nordic country the concerned figures are yet not know. Therefore,
this table is related to 29 members of the alliance.
Table: III Personnel Share (in %)
+ 80 % + 70 % + 60 % + 50 % + 40 % + 30 %
2014 2 8 4 8 4 3
2015 2 8 2 7 6 4
2016 1 8 4 4 9 3
2017 2 5 4 7 5 6
2018 0 8 2 6 5 8
2019 0 5 5 2 9 8
2020 0 2 6 6 8 6
2021 0 0 5 7 10 6
2022 0 0 3 5 11 8
The last years a few countries decreased their personnel cost to under the 30% share of the
national budget. It concerns the following years and NATO member states.
• 2020: Hungary (27%)
• 2021: Hungary (29%)
• 2022: Estonia (29%) and Luxembourg (24%).
The best scored countries in 2014 were Estonia, the United Kingdom and the United States with
a share of personnel costs between 30% and 40%. In the beginning year 2014 the plus 80 %
group started in 2014 with Portugal and Slovenia. Since the year 2018 there are no members
anymore with a military budget in which more than 80 % went to personnel outlays. The plus
70 % group existed in 2014 of eight countries and reduced to two (Croatia, Greece) in 2020.
Since 2021 there are no members anymore in this situation.
The Hellenic republic is one of the greatest defence spenders in relation to the GDP (2014: 2,22
% and 2022: 3,54 %), but with an army of more than 100thousand men the personnel costs
were always on the high side. In 2014 it was 77% and it was still 74% in 2020. But then the
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Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal (ASSRJ) Vol. 10, Issue 6, June-2023
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Table: IV Evolution 2014 – 2022
- Albania : 68 % (2014) - 46 % (2022)
- Belgium: 77 % (2014) - 62 % (2022)
- Bulgaria: 72 % - 56 %
- Canada: 50 % - 45 %
- Croatia: 76 % - 56 %
- Czechia: 61% - 44 %
- Denmark: 51 % - 43 %
- Estonia: 38 % - 29 %
- France: 48 % - 41 %
- FRG: 50 % - 39 %
- Greece: 77 % - 43 %
- Hungary: 49% - 30 %
- Italy: 76 % - 62 %
- Latvia: 52 % - 35 %
- Lithuania: 57 % - 33 %
- Luxembourg: 49 % - 24 %
- Montenegro: 78 % - 61 %
- Netherlands: 56 % - 38 %
- North Mac.: 72 % - 42 %
- Norway: 40 % - 32 %
- Poland: 51 % - 40 %
- Portugal: 81 % - 63 %
- Romania: 71 % - 55 %
- Slovak rep.: 69 % - 45 %
- Slovenia: 82 % - 53 %
- Spain: 67 % - 53 %
- Turkey: 56 % - 48 %
- UK: 36 % - 30 %
- USA: 35 % - 38 %
There is only one example of a NATO member state, were the personnel costs share went up:
the United States with three percent!
Based at the fourth table the most important reductions in the personnel costs are situated in
the following countries: Greece (- 34%), North Macedonia (- 30%), Slovenia (- 29 % ),
Luxembourg ( - 25 % ), in three countries it went down with 24% over the studied years : Spain,
Lithuania and the Slovak republic, Albania ( - 22 % ), Croatia ( - 21 % ), Hungary ( - 19 % ) etc...
NATO FIGURES
In the annual report of the military alliance counts the share of the equipment’s (investments
of weapons), personnel, infrastructure and operations/maintenance. Based at the mentioned
report here are some examples:
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Matthijs, H. (2023). The Evolution of The Military Personnel in The Nato Member States. Advances in Social Sciences Research Journal, 10(6). 537-
544.
URL: http://dx.doi.org/10.14738/assrj.106.14874
Personnel equipment infrastructure operations/maintenance
Belgium = 49,5% 19,3% 2,7% 28,5%
France = 41,6% 28,6% 3,1% 26,7%
Greece = 43,7% 45,3% 0,1% 10,9%
Latvia = 35,5% 24,6% 8,7% 31,2%
Luxembourg = 24,1% 39,1% 11,2% 25,6%
Netherlands = 38,8% 23,7% 3,3% 34,2%
UK = 30,9% 28,1% 2,1% 38,9%
USA = 38,8% 27,3% 1,5% 32,4%
Knowing the Wales guidelines of 2014 most of the members do have already a budget in which
more then 20% is related with equipment. The mostly percentage of the operations and
maintenance is related with the cost of sending troops to NATO operation area’s and/or the
existence of a nuclear force, which is the case for the United Kingdom, France and the United
States.
Based at the 2022 NATO report the personnel costs is the highest share in the military budgets
and this in 24 countries, with exception of Luxembourg, the United Kingdom and Estonia (39%)
where operations/maintenance is the highest cost in the military budget. In three countries is
equipment the highest cost: Greece, Hungary (45%) and Lithuania (34%).
DISCUSSION & CONCLUSION
Over the studied years 2014-2022 in this article the number of military personnel decreased
with as deepest point in the year 2016. Then the number raised again. The total figure in the
year 2022 is situated already over the starting year 2014. In the half of all the NATO members
the size of their army is less than 25thousend persons.
The US has the greatest army in number of military personnel with a share of about 41% of the
NATO total, followed by Turkey. The most important European army is France. The result of
the evolution concerning the military personnel in this nuclear power is a status quo in
numbers over the studied years. On the other hand, Germany and Poland are countries with an
increasing number of military personnel.
The opposite is the fact in Italy and the United Kingdom. Near the increase of the total of military
personnel, the share of this cost in the military budgets went down. In 2014 there were these
countries where more than 70% of their military expenditures were personnel costs. Table III
of this study gives the evolution till the present years. Table IV gives the evolution of the
national shares concerning the personnel cost. The concerned conclusion is that this decreased
in all the member states of the NATO, except the United States. With six exceptions is personnel
still the greatest budget post in the military. The increase of the total number of military
personnel is also related with the location of the countries. The border states with Russia and
Ukraine are more focussed at the security – military policy.
Only the joint sum of the military personnel in the EU members of the NATO with the United
Kingdom gives a greater army then the US military.