The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) is by far the largest military peacetime military alliance in the world. It is composed of over 30 nations, mainly on the European continent. In terms of personnel, a few of the NATO members have some of the largest militaries in the world while others have easily some of the smallest military forces, if any.
The underlying principle of NATO is collective defense. Should a member nation come under attack by a foreign power, then other member nations would come to aid. This principle favors countries with smaller militaries as they are getting more out of the alliance without having to spend much on their own military. (These are the NATO countries not paying their fair share.)
A NATO country like Iceland is a perfect example of this. This frozen nation famously known for not having a standing military in any form, and as such it relies heavily on the collective defense clause of the NATO alliance, should the need ever arise.
On the other hand, the United States spends more on its military than any other nation on the planet. It has bases across Europe to protect its NATO allies, many of whom have standing militaries of less than 100,000 personnel. (These are the greatest armies ever assembled on Earth.)
Here, 24/7 Wall St. is taking a closer look at the NATO alliance and which countries have the largest militaries in terms of personnel. To identify the NATO countries with the most military personnel, 24/7 Wall St. reviewed 2024 Military Strength Ranking from Global Firepower, an annually updated defense-related statistics website with information on 145 countries. Countries were ranked on the total number of military personnel. We included supplemental information regarding active personnel, reserves, total population, fit-for-service, paramilitary forces, and overall military strength score.
It should be noted that Sweden has just elected to join the NATO Alliance. This piece was composed prior to this addition, so Sweden will not be listed among these NATO countries. There will be an update in the near future to reflect this new addition.
Here is a look at the NATO countries with the most military manpower:
31. Iceland
- Total military personnel: 0
- Active personnel: 0
- Reserves: 0
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 360,872
- Fit-for-service: 49,800
- Military strength score: 3.5038 – #136 out of 145
30. Luxembourg
- Total military personnel: 1,000
- Active personnel: 1,000
- Reserves: 0
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 660,924
- Fit-for-service: 91,208
- Military strength score: 2.1458 – #109 out of 145
29. Montenegro
- Total military personnel: 7,850
- Active personnel: 2,350
- Reserves: 0
- Paramilitary forces: 5,500
- Total population: 602,445
- Fit-for-service: 85,547
- Military strength score: 2.9109 – #129 out of 145
28. Albania
- Total military personnel: 9,100
- Active personnel: 6,600
- Reserves: 2,000
- Paramilitary forces: 500
- Total population: 3,101,621
- Fit-for-service: 1,290,274
- Military strength score: 1.8188 – #90 out of 145
27. Slovakia
- Total military personnel: 19,500
- Active personnel: 19,500
- Reserves: 0
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 5,425,319
- Fit-for-service: 2,294,910
- Military strength score: 1.1891 – #69 out of 145
26. Belgium
- Total military personnel: 31,400
- Active personnel: 25,000
- Reserves: 6,400
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 11,913,633
- Fit-for-service: 3,860,017
- Military strength score: 1.2064 – #70 out of 145
25. Czechia
- Total military personnel: 32,200
- Active personnel: 28,000
- Reserves: 4,200
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 10,706,242
- Fit-for-service: 4,079,078
- Military strength score: 0.7706 – #46 out of 145
24. Croatia
- Total military personnel: 36,425
- Active personnel: 14,325
- Reserves: 20,100
- Paramilitary forces: 2,000
- Total population: 4,169,239
- Fit-for-service: 1,571,803
- Military strength score: 1.1333 – #66 out of 145
23. Slovenia
- Total military personnel: 38,300
- Active personnel: 7,300
- Reserves: 26,000
- Paramilitary forces: 5,000
- Total population: 2,099,790
- Fit-for-service: 827,317
- Military strength score: 1.8286 – #91 out of 145
22. Bulgaria
- Total military personnel: 40,000
- Active personnel: 37,000
- Reserves: 3,000
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 6,827,736
- Fit-for-service: 2,628,678
- Military strength score: 1.0132 – #62 out of 145
21. Netherlands
- Total military personnel: 53,145
- Active personnel: 41,380
- Reserves: 6,765
- Paramilitary forces: 5,000
- Total population: 17,463,930
- Fit-for-service: 6,374,334
- Military strength score: 0.5644 – #40 out of 145
20. Norway
- Total military personnel: 63,250
- Active personnel: 23,250
- Reserves: 0
- Paramilitary forces: 40,000
- Total population: 5,597,924
- Fit-for-service: 1,836,119
- Military strength score: 0.5664 – #41 out of 145
19. Latvia
- Total military personnel: 65,750
- Active personnel: 17,250
- Reserves: 36,000
- Paramilitary forces: 12,500
- Total population: 1,821,750
- Fit-for-service: 655,830
- Military strength score: 1.9911 – #99 out of 145
18. North Macedonia
- Total military personnel: 72,500
- Active personnel: 9,000
- Reserves: 60,000
- Paramilitary forces: 3,500
- Total population: 2,133,410
- Fit-for-service: 782,961
- Military strength score: 2.1717 – #110 out of 145
17. Hungary
- Total military personnel: 76,600
- Active personnel: 41,600
- Reserves: 20,000
- Paramilitary forces: 15,000
- Total population: 9,670,009
- Fit-for-service: 3,722,953
- Military strength score: 0.8478 – #54 out of 145
16. Denmark
- Total military personnel: 83,000
- Active personnel: 20,000
- Reserves: 12,000
- Paramilitary forces: 51,000
- Total population: 5,946,984
- Fit-for-service: 2,117,126
- Military strength score: 0.7743 – #48 out of 145
15. Estonia
- Total military personnel: 96,500
- Active personnel: 7,700
- Reserves: 78,800
- Paramilitary forces: 10,000
- Total population: 1,202,762
- Fit-for-service: 459,455
- Military strength score: 1.7237 – #87 out of 145
14. Canada
- Total military personnel: 100,500
- Active personnel: 68,000
- Reserves: 27,000
- Paramilitary forces: 5,500
- Total population: 38,516,736
- Fit-for-service: 13,403,824
- Military strength score: 0.3813 – #27 out of 145
13. Lithuania
- Total military personnel: 141,150
- Active personnel: 23,000
- Reserves: 104,000
- Paramilitary forces: 14,150
- Total population: 2,655,755
- Fit-for-service: 1,346,468
- Military strength score: 1.7395 – #88 out of 145
12. Romania
- Total military personnel: 151,300
- Active personnel: 81,300
- Reserves: 55,000
- Paramilitary forces: 15,000
- Total population: 18,326,327
- Fit-for-service: 7,807,015
- Military strength score: 0.7712 – #47 out of 145
11. Germany
- Total military personnel: 215,600
- Active personnel: 181,600
- Reserves: 34,000
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 84,220,184
- Fit-for-service: 30,993,028
- Military strength score: 0.2847 – #19 out of 145
10. Spain
- Total military personnel: 226,902
- Active personnel: 133,282
- Reserves: 15,150
- Paramilitary forces: 78,470
- Total population: 47,222,613
- Fit-for-service: 17,614,035
- Military strength score: 0.2882 – #20 out of 145
9. Portugal
- Total military personnel: 260,400
- Active personnel: 24,000
- Reserves: 211,700
- Paramilitary forces: 24,700
- Total population: 10,467,366
- Fit-for-service: 4,029,936
- Military strength score: 0.5609 – #38 out of 145
8. Italy
- Total military personnel: 289,000
- Active personnel: 165,500
- Reserves: 18,500
- Paramilitary forces: 105,000
- Total population: 61,021,855
- Fit-for-service: 22,211,955
- Military strength score: 0.1863 – #10 out of 145
7. France
- Total military personnel: 376,000
- Active personnel: 200,000
- Reserves: 26,000
- Paramilitary forces: 150,000
- Total population: 68,521,974
- Fit-for-service: 23,845,647
- Military strength score: 0.1878 – #11 out of 145
6. Greece
- Total military personnel: 419,050
- Active personnel: 142,700
- Reserves: 221,350
- Paramilitary forces: 55,000
- Total population: 10,497,595
- Fit-for-service: 3,999,584
- Military strength score: 0.4349 – #32 out of 145
5. Poland
- Total military personnel: 602,100
- Active personnel: 202,100
- Reserves: 350,000
- Paramilitary forces: 50,000
- Total population: 37,991,766
- Fit-for-service: 15,272,690
- Military strength score: 0.2917 – #21 out of 145
4. Turkey
- Total military personnel: 883,900
- Active personnel: 355,200
- Reserves: 378,700
- Paramilitary forces: 150,000
- Total population: 83,593,483
- Fit-for-service: 3,561,604
- Military strength score: 0.1697 – #8 out of 145
3. Finland
- Total military personnel: 947,800
- Active personnel: 24,000
- Reserves: 870,000
- Paramilitary forces: 53,800
- Total population: 5,614,571
- Fit-for-service: 1,908,954
- Military strength score: 0.7967 – #50 out of 145
2. United Kingdom
- Total military personnel: 1,108,860
- Active personnel: 184,860
- Reserves: 924,000
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 68,138,484
- Fit-for-service: 25,074,962
- Military strength score: 0.1443 – #6 out of 145
1. United States
- Total military personnel: 2,127,500
- Active personnel: 1,328,000
- Reserves: 799,500
- Paramilitary forces: 0
- Total population: 339,665,118
- Fit-for-service: 123,977,768
- Military strength score: 0.0699 – #1 out of 145
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