28 Oct 2016

Countries That Devote the Most Workers to the Military


Democratic People's Republic of Korea Military Demonstration Start

Credit: AFP/Stringer | Getty Images


Countries value their national security above all else. Today, organized militaries employ nearly 200 million people worldwide — modern countries rarely lack a standing army. Armed services can be generally broken down into land-based armies, seafaring navies and high-flying air forces, though some countries do have additional branches such as the United States Coast Guard and Marines.

Using data from the World Bank crunched the numbers to find the top 25 countries with the most troops. Rather than using aggregate troop count to rank the list, we ordered it by the percentage of a country’s total labor force represented by its troops. The World Bank defines armed forces as any active military personnel that have received some form of training and are properly organized. This includes paramilitary forces, such as private contracted defense agencies like Academi (formerly known as Blackwater) that have adequate training to qualify them to support or replace state troops. Labor force is defined as a country’s economically active population.