Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask His Majesty's Government how many service personnel there are in the British Armed Forces, broken down by (1) service arm, and (2) gender.

The current strength (as at 1 January 2025) of the UK Armed Forces is 180,779 which includes:

• All UK Regular personnel and all Gurkha personnel (77.6 per cent of UK Service Personnel, (SP)).
• Volunteer Reserve personnel (17.7 per cent of UK SP).
• Other Personnel including the Serving Regular Reserve, Sponsored Reserve, Military Provost Guard Service, Locally Engaged Personnel and elements of the Full-Time Reserve Service (4.7 per cent of UK SP).

The strength of each of the Services, including Regular Forces, Volunteer Reserves and Other Personnel is:

• Royal Navy/Royal Marines - 37,601.
• Army (also including Gurkhas) -108,413.
• Royal Air Force is - 34,765.

The gender of Armed Forces personnel (as at 1 October 2024) is as follows:

• Male – 147,570.
• Female – 21,420

Gender figures are for Regular and Future Reserve 2030 Forces only; data regarding other categories of SP is not available.