{
  "dataset": "UK Regular Forces calendar-year average personnel 2000–2023",
  "description": "Published MOD ministerial answer averages of four quarterly strength snapshots per year (2000 includes an estimated January strength). This must not be spliced to July-only 2024–2026 counts.",
  "release": {
    "version": "1.0.0",
    "editorialReviewed": "2026-10-16",
    "firstYear": 2000,
    "lastYear": 2023,
    "unit": "people",
    "timeBasis": "four-quarter calendar-year average",
    "isLiveFeed": false,
    "licence": "https://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/doc/open-government-licence/version/3/"
  },
  "source": {
    "id": "mod-parliament-10473",
    "name": "Ministry of Defence: UK Regular Forces average strength, calendar years 2000–2023",
    "url": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
    "answered": "2024-01-25",
    "table": "Answer table: Year, British Army, Royal Navy and Royal Marines, Royal Air Force",
    "method": "Unweighted arithmetic mean of 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October quarterly UK Regular Forces strengths",
    "limitations": [
      "Calendar-year mean, not a 1 July stock, 31 March financial-year total, count of trained personnel or recruitment rate.",
      "The 2000 average depends on an interpolated January 2000 strength because that quarter was unavailable.",
      "2000–2007 figures rounded to nearest 100; 2008–2023 rounded to nearest 10, with statistical rounding policy at 5.",
      "Royal Navy and Royal Marines are combined. No reserve, Gurkha or other personnel category is included.",
      "Adding independently rounded branch averages yields a calculated comparison, not a separately published official all-service average."
    ]
  },
  "services": {
    "army": "British Army",
    "navy": "Royal Navy and Royal Marines",
    "raf": "Royal Air Force"
  },
  "observations": [
    {
      "year": 2000,
      "army": 109600,
      "navy": 42800,
      "raf": 54600,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": "2000-01-01"
    },
    {
      "year": 2001,
      "army": 109200,
      "navy": 42100,
      "raf": 53600,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2002,
      "army": 110100,
      "navy": 42600,
      "raf": 52900,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2003,
      "army": 112000,
      "navy": 41400,
      "raf": 53100,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2004,
      "army": 112100,
      "navy": 40700,
      "raf": 53100,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2005,
      "army": 108800,
      "navy": 39800,
      "raf": 51400,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2006,
      "army": 107200,
      "navy": 39200,
      "raf": 47900,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2007,
      "army": 105900,
      "navy": 38800,
      "raf": 45100,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-100",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2008,
      "army": 104610,
      "navy": 38410,
      "raf": 43300,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2009,
      "army": 106890,
      "navy": 38350,
      "raf": 43520,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2010,
      "army": 107740,
      "navy": 38650,
      "raf": 43800,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2011,
      "army": 105940,
      "navy": 37480,
      "raf": 42230,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2012,
      "army": 103820,
      "navy": 35500,
      "raf": 39710,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2013,
      "army": 98630,
      "navy": 33860,
      "raf": 36690,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2014,
      "army": 90390,
      "navy": 33160,
      "raf": 35050,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2015,
      "army": 85590,
      "navy": 32670,
      "raf": 33860,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2016,
      "army": 84700,
      "navy": 32480,
      "raf": 33410,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2017,
      "army": 83000,
      "navy": 32470,
      "raf": 33100,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2018,
      "army": 80590,
      "navy": 32460,
      "raf": 32850,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2019,
      "army": 78800,
      "navy": 32500,
      "raf": 32780,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2020,
      "army": 79290,
      "navy": 32960,
      "raf": 32860,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2021,
      "army": 81720,
      "navy": 33890,
      "raf": 33220,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2022,
      "army": 80060,
      "navy": 33750,
      "raf": 33130,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    },
    {
      "year": 2023,
      "army": 76950,
      "navy": 32590,
      "raf": 31940,
      "sourceId": "mod-parliament-10473",
      "sourceUrl": "https://questions-statements.parliament.uk/written-questions/detail/2024-01-18/10473",
      "precision": "rounded-to-nearest-10",
      "estimatedQuarter": null
    }
  ],
  "total": "No separately published tri-service total in this edition. Use the three service rows or explicitly mark sums of rounded numbers as derived."
}