Navy

(asked on 18th January 2024) - View Source
Questioner
Alan Brown Portrait
Alan Brown
(Scottish National Party - Kilmarnock and Loudoun)

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, how many Royal Navy personnel there have been on average in each year since 2000.

Answered by
Andrew Murrison Portrait
Andrew Murrison
Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)
This question was answered on 25th January 2024

Year

British Army

Royal Navy and Royal Marines

Royal Air Force

2000

109,600

42,800

54,600

2001

109,200

42,100

53,600

2002

110,100

42,600

52,900

2003

112,000

41,400

53,100

2004

112,100

40,700

53,100

2005

108,800

39,800

51,400

2006

107,200

39,200

47,900

2007

105,900

38,800

45,100

2008

104,610

38,410

43,300

2009

106,890

38,350

43,520

2010

107,740

38,650

43,800

2011

105,940

37,480

42,230

2012

103,820

35,500

39,710

2013

98,630

33,860

36,690

2014

90,390

33,160

35,050

2015

85,590

32,670

33,860

2016

84,700

32,480

33,410

2017

83,000

32,470

33,100

2018

80,590

32,460

32,850

2019

78,800

32,500

32,780

2020

79,290

32,960

32,860

2021

81,720

33,890

33,220

2022

80,060

33,750

33,130

2023

76,950

32,590

31,940

Notes/Caveats

  1. The Average Strength of the UK Regular Forces was calculated on a yearly basis by taking the mean of the corresponding strengths reported on a quarterly basis - e.g for the year 2010, the average was calculated from the strengths as at 1 Jan 2010, 1 Apr 2010, 1 Jul 2010 and 1 Oct 2010.
  2. UK Regulars comprise full time Service Personnel, including Nursing Services, but excluding Full Time Reserve Service (FTRS) personnel, Gurkhas, mobilised Reservists, Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS), Locally Engaged Personnel (LEP), Non Regular Permanent Staff (NRPS), High Readiness Reserve (HRR) and Expeditionary Forces Institute (EFI) personnel. Unless otherwise stated, figures include trained and untrained personnel.
  3. Due to the lack of data available for the 1 Jan 2000 strengths, the strengths were estimated via linear interpolation between the known strengths as at 1 Apr 1999 and 1 Apr 2000. Essentially we assume the strengths change linearly from 1 Apr 1999 to 1 Apr 2000, to estimate the strength as at 1 Jan 2000. As such the averages calculated for the year 2000 include an estimated figure, making the calculated average an estimate.
  4. UK Regular Forces strength figures used in the Average Strength calculations in the period 1 Apr 1999 - 1 Jan 2007 (apart from the 1 Jan 2000 strength discussed in caveat 3) were taken from historic "UK Armed Forces Quarterly Press Releases" which can be accessed here: https://webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/20140116145335/http://www.dasa.mod.uk/index.php/publications/personnel/military/quarterly-personnel-report
  5. UK Regular Forces strength figures used in the Average Strength calculations in the period 1 Apr 1999 – 1 Oct 2023 were taken from the Joint Personnel Administration system (JPA).
  6. The Average Strength in the year 2000 has been rounded to the nearest 100 to reflect the fact that an estimate was used in the calculations (see caveat 3).
  7. Figures from the years 2001 - 2007 have been rounded to the nearest 100. This is due to rounded figures being used to calculate the Average Strengths.
  8. Figures from the year 2008 onwards have been rounded to the nearest 10 in line with disclosure control policy. Figures ending in 5 are rounded to the nearest 20 to avoid systematic bias.

Reticulating Splines