List of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel



This is a list of countries by number of military and paramilitary personnel. It includes any government-sponsored soldiers used to further the domestic and foreign policies of their respective government. The term "country" is used in the sense of state which exercises sovereignty or has limited recognition.

List
The list consists of columns which can be sorted by clicking on the appropriate title: These numbers are approximations as military forces around the world are constantly changing in size.
 * The names of the states, accompanied by their respective national flags.
 * The number of military personnel on active duty that are currently serving full-time in their military capacity.
 * The number of military personnel in the reserve forces that are not normally kept under arms whose role is to be available to mobilize when necessary.
 * The number of personnel in paramilitary forces, armed units that are not considered part of a nation's formal military forces.
 * The total number of military and paramilitary personnel, and the ratio per thousand inhabitants.

Many of the 182 countries listed here, especially those with the highest number of total soldiers, such as the two Koreas and Vietnam, include a large number of paramilitaries, civilians and policemen in their reserve personnel. Some countries, such as India, Italy, Japan and the People's Republic of China, have only volunteers in their armed forces; while others, such as Mauritius and Panama, have no national armies, but only a paramilitary force.

Not included in the list are the militaries of Abkhazia, Nagorno-Karabakh, Northern Cyprus and San Marino.