The Geographic Distribution of Military Personnel in the European Union

Oct 26, 2017
Map of military personnel in the EU

The EU, if it were to ever have a unified military force would see most of its personnel come from very few states.  As can be seen in the map above, Nordic and Baltic countries have a limited number of military personnel.

Findings

  • France has the largest number of military personnel at just over 200,000.
  • Luxembourg has the smallest with just under one thousand.
  • Only six countries have over 100,000 military personnel: France, Italy, Germany, United Kingdom, Spain, and Greece.
  • Eight countries have less than 10,000 military personnel: Luxembourg, Malta, Latvia, Estonia, Slovenia, Finland, Lithuania, and Ireland.

Caveats

  • Denmark was missing data.

Details

With the United Kingdom about to exit the European Union, the EU is about to lose one of its larger armies.

Baltic and Nordic countries have limited armies even though they are consistently worried about Russia's military might.  Greece, on the other hand refuses to take any chances with their rival Turkey.  Apparently, the Netherlands takes its mortal enemy, the sea, quite seriously as well yielding the ninth largest number of military personnel in the Union.

Data

CountryMilitary Personnel
France207,000
Italy183,465
Germany178,800
United Kingdom153,730
Spain121,848
Greece113,517
Poland99,500
Romania69,556
Netherlands42,102
Portugal30,302
Belgium30,174
Bulgaria25,188
Austria22,689
Hungary22,667
Czech Republic20,222
Sweden15,570
Croatia15,380
Slovakia13,338
Cyprus11,747
Ireland9,280
Lithuania8,568
Finland8,275
Slovenia6,765
Estonia6,285
Latvia4,646
Malta1,662
Luxembourg821

Sources

European Defense Agnecy.  2017.  "Defense Data Portal."  Accessed October 25, 2017.  http://www.eda.europa.eu/info-hub/defence-data-portal

Filed under: Cartography