Based on a comparison of 163 countries in 2019, Eritrea ranked the highest in armed forces personnel as a share of total workforce with 12.3% followed by Dem. People's Republic of Korea and Djibouti. On the other end of the scale was Haiti with 0.020%, Mozambique with 0.082% and Liberia with 0.090%.
Average armed forces personnel as a share of total workforce reached 0.800% in 2019 in the World according to the SIPRI Military Expenditure Database. This is 1.2 % less than in the previous year and -12.1 % 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 0.800% in 2019. The average annual growth amounted to -1.11 % 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 | 1999 | 2000 | 2001 | 2002 | 2003 | 2004 | 2005 | 2006 | 2007 | 2008 | 2009 | 2010 | 2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | 2019 |
| Armenia | % | 3.60% | 3.66% | 3.73% | 3.84% | 3.88% | ||||||||||||||||
| Brunei | % | 4.59% | 4.56% | 4.53% | 5.89% | 3.88% | ||||||||||||||||
| Dem. People's Republic of Korea | % | 8.43% | 8.35% | 8.28% | 8.76% | 8.68% | ||||||||||||||||
| Djibouti | % | ... | 6.27% | 6.14% | 6.00% | 5.93% | 5.76% | |||||||||||||||
| Eritrea | % | ... | 13.2% | 13.1% | 13.1% | 13.0% | 12.8% | |||||||||||||||
| Iraq | % | 2.01% | 2.23% | 2.15% | 2.08% | 2.09% | ||||||||||||||||
| Israel | % | 4.99% | 4.86% | 4.78% | 4.69% | 4.45% | ||||||||||||||||
| Jordan | % | 5.86% | 5.18% | 4.69% | 4.43% | 4.30% | ||||||||||||||||
| Laos | % | 3.82% | 3.74% | 3.67% | 3.59% | 3.52% | ||||||||||||||||
| Lebanon | % | 4.36% | 3.92% | 3.84% | 3.95% | 4.08% | ||||||||||||||||
| Montenegro | % | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 4.81% | 4.57% | 4.42% | 4.35% | 4.32% | |||||||||
| South Sudan | % | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | ... | 3.88% | 3.90% | 3.96% | 4.08% | 4.36% | |||||
| Sri Lanka | % | 2.70% | 2.70% | 3.14% | 3.56% | 3.63% | ||||||||||||||||
| Syria | % | 3.08% | 5.34% | 5.59% | 6.22% | 4.74% | ||||||||||||||||
| Venezuela | % | ... | 0.844% | 1.95% | 1.95% | 2.02% | 2.62% |
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