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Proposed defence cuts threaten to cut the army by one-fifth to 82,000. Photograph: Patrick Baz/AFP/Getty Images
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Oct 31, 2019 The previous snowfall record for the month was 4.2 inches, set in 1997. Dubuque received 3.2 inches earlier this week, but the second snowfall has been even heavier. The city received 2.5 inches of snow Wednesday night and another 2.7 inches through 7.
The British army is facing huge cuts, in the latest round of spending details. This report, from the MoD, talks about cuts of 20,000 in regular forces.
Nick Hopkins writes today that
With the army needing to axe 20,000 posts because of budget cuts, commanders are pushing to downsize as quickly as possible rather than prolong the process. This means the next two tranches of redundancy will be huge – and are likely to coincide with the draw-down from Afghanistan, leaving the army to start afresh in 2015.
So, how has the number of UK service personnel changed over time? According to data from the Ministry of Defence (MOD), the number of total personnel is decreasing year by year.
The numbers released to us by the Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) department at the MOD show the total number of UK service personnel from 1900 -2011. The total figures combine the total of Naval Services (Royal Navy and Royal Marines), the Army and the Royal Air Force (RAF). We'd love to see this split into each service - DASA have not released that yet but hope to later this year.
The defence cuts will see the number reduced further. Nick Hopkins writes today:
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By the end of it, the army will have been cut by one-fifth to 82,000. The RAF and the Royal Navy will have shrunk too, with each service seeking 5,000 job cuts between now and 2015, and no guarantee of no further losses before 2020. And that does not take into account the 32,000 civilians jobs that are being axed.
Finbarr Sheehy,'> Guardian graphic drawn by Finbarr Sheehy,Our graphic, by Finbarr Sheehy, shows how the number of UK service personnel has changed over time. The figure has decreased every year since 1952 and the graphic illustrates the peaks of service personnel during WWI and WWII and also increases during the Korean war.
We've added conflicts that we know about to the data - let us know what we've missed.
Graphic by Andy Cotgreave at Tableau Interestingly, if we look at spending - which we have here care of the excellent ukpublicspending.co.uk, and compare it to the size of the forces, you can see a picture of armed forces becoming more expensive - as equipment they use becomes pricier, but smaller at the same time.
The table shows the annual totals of UK service personnel, as at 1 April each year. DASA are currently preparing a long time-series of service personnel data in response to the Government's transparency agenda and will publish the result by the end of 2011. There are some caveats:
• The RAF started in 1918.
• Figures include those on National Service.
• The situation date is 1 April from 1969. In earlier years the situation date may be different, and may differ between Services.
• Figures are shown rounded to the nearest hundred. In early years (particularly before 1920) figures for some individual Services have been rounded much more heavily.
• Figures include those on National Service.
• The situation date is 1 April from 1969. In earlier years the situation date may be different, and may differ between Services.
• Figures are shown rounded to the nearest hundred. In early years (particularly before 1920) figures for some individual Services have been rounded much more heavily.
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Data summary
City 70s 80s 90s 2.7 Full
Total strength, Thousands, FTE | £ per pers- onnel | Conflicts | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
1900 | 416.40 | 3.78 | 15,202 | 1,010 | Boer War, China (Boxer rebellion) |
1901 | 539.80 | 6.5 | 20,582 | 1,298 | Boer war, Nigeria, China (Boxer rebellion) |
1902 | 520.20 | 6.91 | 23,030 | 1,240 | Boer War |
1903 | 451.80 | 6.06 | 23,019 | 1,067 | Tibet |
1904 | 418.30 | 3.96 | 16,424 | 980 | Tibet |
1905 | 401.10 | 3.49 | 15,582 | 931 | |
1906 | 392.10 | 3.16 | 14,767 | 902 | |
1907 | 376.50 | 2.89 | 14,343 | 859 | |
1908 | 379.30 | 3 | 14,210 | 858 | |
1909 | 381.40 | 2.96 | 14,289 | 855 | |
1910 | 383.70 | 3.03 | 14,934 | 853 | |
1911 | 388.30 | 3.13 | 15,761 | 855 | |
1912 | 389.80 | 3.12 | 15,854 | 864 | |
1913 | 393.30 | 3.09 | 16,196 | 877 | |
1914 | 1,478.40 | 3.21 | 4,566 | 3,315 | WW1 |
1915 | 2,825.80 | 14.93 | 11,713 | 6,373 | WW1 |
1916 | 3,834.80 | 40.8 | 23,860 | 8,699 | WW1 |
1917 | 4,333.00 | 46.19 | 23,757 | 9,888 | WW1 |
1918 | 4,583.30 | 47.07 | 23,328 | 10,521 | WW1, Iraqi Kurdistan |
1919 | 1,604.70 | 40.1 | 52,309 | 3,705 | Russia civil war, Irish civil war, Afghanistan, Turkey |
1920 | 597.70 | 11.61 | 36,674 | 1,388 | Irish civil war, Somaliland, Turkey |
1921 | 438.50 | 6.06 | 23,558 | 995 | Turkey |
1922 | 368.00 | 4.98 | 24,293 | 831 | Turkey |
1923 | 334.70 | 2.9 | 16,014 | 753 | Turkey |
1924 | 339.30 | 2.84 | 16,180 | 760 | |
1925 | 342.30 | 2.65 | 15,513 | 763 | |
1926 | 341.00 | 2.92 | 16,628 | 757 | |
1927 | 339.30 | 2.7 | 16,622 | 750 | |
1928 | 330.70 | 2.72 | 17,357 | 727 | |
1929 | 325.60 | 2.54 | 16,923 | 713 | |
1930 | 317.30 | 2.57 | 17,428 | 692 | |
1931 | 319.10 | 2.71 | 17,424 | 693 | |
1932 | 316.80 | 2.67 | 17,330 | 684 | |
1933 | 316.40 | 2.58 | 17,288 | 681 | |
1934 | 317.40 | 2.57 | 18,210 | 680 | |
1935 | 320.80 | 2.58 | 18,734 | 684 | |
1936 | 339.30 | 2.92 | 20,984 | 720 | Palestine |
1937 | 352.40 | 3.66 | 26,220 | 744 | Palestine |
1938 | 384.80 | 3.74 | 24,740 | 809 | Palestine / Israel |
1939 | 1,068.85 | 4.5 | 11,180 | 2,237 | WW2, Palestine / Israel |
1940 | 1,812.60 | 8.96 | 14,438 | 3,776 | WW2, Palestine / Israel |
1941 | 3,285.40 | 37.36 | 36,096 | 6,814 | WW2, Palestine / Israel |
1942 | 3,880.80 | 43.21 | 35,975 | 8,015 | WW2, Palestine / Israel |
1943 | 4,452.80 | 48.18 | 35,566 | 9,158 | WW2, Palestine / Israel |
1944 | 4,691.10 | 48.77 | 32,668 | 9,607 | WW2, Palestine / Israel |
1945 | 4,906.40 | 52.01 | 31,787 | 10,006 | WW2, , Palestine / Israel, Indonesia |
1946 | 1,937.80 | 44.61 | 67,329 | 3,935 | Palestine / Israel, Vietnam, Indonesia |
1947 | 1,255.00 | 12.37 | 28,446 | 2,538 | Palestine / Israel, Vietnam, Indonesia |
1948 | 830.00 | 6.84 | 24,482 | 1,671 | Palestine / Israel, Vietnam, Indonesia |
1949 | 759.50 | 6 | 24,266 | 1,523 | Malaya, Indonesia |
1950 | 696.40 | 5.59 | 25,416 | 1,391 | Korea, Malaya |
1951 | 823.80 | 9.86 | 38,941 | 1,638 | Korea, Malaya |
1952 | 871.70 | 11.17 | 41,746 | 1,725 | Korea, Malaya, Kenya |
1953 | 868.00 | 10.96 | 42,707 | 1,709 | Korea, Malaya, Kenya |
1954 | 840.10 | 10.03 | 42,031 | 1,646 | Malaya, Kenya |
1955 | 804.70 | 8.85 | 40,040 | 1,569 | Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus |
1956 | 762.30 | 8.6 | 41,467 | 1,479 | Suez, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus |
1957 | 703.90 | 7.79 | 41,327 | 1,359 | Suez, Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus |
1958 | 615.50 | 7.44 | 45,297 | 1,183 | Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus |
1959 | 566.50 | 7.05 | 48,667 | 1,083 | Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus |
1960 | 521.10 | 6.76 | 53,445 | 992 | Malaya, Kenya, Cyprus |
1961 | 457.50 | 6.78 | 62,470 | 866 | |
1962 | 434.00 | 7.2 | 70,691 | 817 | Malaysia, Oman |
1963 | 417.50 | 7 | 74,539 | 782 | Aden, Malaysia, Oman |
1964 | 416.70 | 6.83 | 76,866 | 776 | Aden, Malaysia, Oman |
1965 | 414.60 | 6.7 | 77,424 | 767 | Aden, Malaysia, Oman |
1966 | 409.50 | 6.58 | 78,462 | 754 | Aden, Malaysia, Oman |
1967 | 406.60 | 6.77 | 83,350 | 744 | Aden, Malaysia, Oman |
1968 | 395.80 | 6.29 | 82,870 | 720 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1969 | 383.00 | 5.55 | 77,180 | 693 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1970 | 373.00 | 5.42 | 79,008 | 671 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1971 | 368.00 | 5.52 | 83,342 | 658 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1972 | 371.40 | 5.38 | 83,414 | 664 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1973 | 367.00 | 5.51 | 92,616 | 655 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1974 | 349.30 | 5.62 | 97,939 | 623 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1975 | 338.40 | 5.47 | 97,843 | 603 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1976 | 336.60 | 5.76 | 106,328 | 600 | Northern Ireland, Oman |
1977 | 330.50 | 5.57 | 107,141 | 588 | Northern Ireland |
1978 | 320.70 | 5.63 | 115,279 | 570 | Northern Ireland |
1979 | 315.00 | 5.68 | 121,587 | 560 | Northern Ireland |
1980 | 320.60 | 5.79 | 119,120 | 569 | Northern Ireland |
1981 | 333.80 | 5.69 | 110,965 | 592 | Northern Ireland |
1982 | 327.60 | 5.95 | 120,849 | 580 | Falklands, Northern Ireland |
1983 | 320.60 | 5.27 | 113,350 | 567 | Northern Ireland |
1984 | 325.90 | 5.27 | 114,483 | 575 | Northern Ireland |
1985 | 326.20 | 5.28 | 118,639 | 574 | Northern Ireland |
1986 | 322.50 | 5.17 | 122,109 | 567 | Northern Ireland |
1987 | 319.80 | 4.76 | 118,637 | 561 | Northern Ireland |
1988 | 316.90 | 4.37 | 115,399 | 555 | Northern Ireland |
1989 | 311.60 | 4.09 | 112,484 | 545 | Northern Ireland |
1990 | 305.80 | 4.09 | 115,304 | 533 | Northern Ireland |
1991 | 298.10 | 4.08 | 116,337 | 519 | Gulf War, Northern Ireland |
1992 | 293.40 | 4.18 | 121,404 | 509 | Bosnia, Northern Ireland |
1993 | 274.80 | 4.02 | 127,584 | 476 | Bosnia, Northern Ireland |
1994 | 254.50 | 3.75 | 133,713 | 439 | Bosnia, Northern Ireland |
1995 | 233.30 | 3.48 | 139,649 | 402 | Bosnia, Northern Ireland |
1996 | 221.90 | 3.16 | 136,999 | 381 | Bosnia, Northern Ireland |
1997 | 210.80 | 3.02 | 142,742 | 361 | Northern Ireland |
1998 | 210.10 | 2.77 | 136,078 | 358 | Kosovo, Northern Ireland |
1999 | 208.60 | 2.88 | 147,220 | 355 | Kosovo |
2000 | 207.60 | 2.83 | 151,204 | 352 | Sierra Leone |
2001 | 205.60 | 2.91 | 160,992 | 348 | Sierra Leone, Afghanistan |
2002 | 204.70 | 2.62 | 148,608 | 344 | Sierra Leone |
2003 | 206.90 | 2.62 | 150,991 | 346 | Iraq |
2004 | 207.00 | 2.68 | 158,937 | 344 | Iraq |
2005 | 201.10 | 2.65 | 165,440 | 332 | Iraq |
2006 | 195.90 | 2.64 | 173,609 | 322 | Iraq, Afghanistan |
2007 | 190.40 | 2.59 | 180,252 | 311 | Iraq, Afghanistan |
2008 | 187.10 | 2.64 | 187,333 | 304 | Iraq, Afghanistan |
2009 | 188.40 | 2.98 | 200,106 | 304 | Iraq, Afghanistan |
2010 | 191.70 | 2.97 | 209,338 | 308 | Afghanistan |
2011 | 186.40 | 2.98 | 219,528 | 298 | Afghanistan |
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