Based on a comparison of 163 countries in 2020, Eritrea ranked the highest in armed forces personnel as a share of total workforce with 13.4% followed by Dem. People's Republic of Korea and Djibouti. On the other end of the scale was Haiti with 0.020%, Mozambique with 0.083% and Liberia with 0.087%.
Average armed forces personnel as a share of total workforce reached 0.789% in 2020 in the World according to the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. This is 0.139 % less than in the previous year and -12.6 % less than 10 years ago.
Historically, average armed forces personnel as a share of total workforce reached an all time high of 1.20% in 1995 and an all time low of 0.789% in 2020. The average annual growth amounted to -1.12 % since 1990.
Data for more countries are available at Armed Forces Personnel (As % of Total Workforce) indicator page.
| Armed Forces Personnel (As % of Total Workforce) | Unit | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 |
| Armenia | % | 3.29% | 3.31% | 3.32% | 3.33% | 3.33% | ||||||||||||||||
| Brunei | % | 4.43% | 4.36% | 5.63% | 3.67% | 3.63% | ||||||||||||||||
| Dem. People's Republic of Korea | % | 8.28% | 8.20% | 8.68% | 8.61% | 8.54% | ||||||||||||||||
| Djibouti | % | ... | 6.01% | 5.89% | 5.84% | 5.68% | 5.77% | |||||||||||||||
| Eritrea | % | ... | 14.3% | 14.2% | 14.1% | 14.0% | 13.8% | |||||||||||||||
| Greece | % | 3.08% | 3.10% | 3.08% | 3.11% | 3.17% | ||||||||||||||||
| Iraq | % | 2.24% | 2.17% | 2.10% | 2.10% | 3.29% | ||||||||||||||||
| Israel | % | 4.77% | 4.68% | 4.58% | 4.35% | 4.25% | ||||||||||||||||
| Jordan | % | 5.55% | 4.93% | 4.52% | 4.28% | 3.74% | ||||||||||||||||
| Laos | % | 4.83% | 4.74% | 4.65% | 4.56% | 4.38% | ||||||||||||||||
| Lebanon | % | 3.63% | 3.54% | 3.62% | 3.71% | 3.81% | ||||||||||||||||
| Montenegro | % | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 4.65% | 4.53% | 4.49% | 4.47% | 4.51% | ||||||||||
| Sri Lanka | % | 2.77% | 3.13% | 3.55% | 3.61% | 3.72% | ||||||||||||||||
| Syria | % | 6.11% | 6.41% | 7.14% | 5.44% | 5.61% | ||||||||||||||||
| Venezuela | % | ... | 1.97% | 1.96% | 2.01% | 2.59% | 2.74% |
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