Armed forces workforce
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- 1. Navigate to Main facts and figures section
- 2. Navigate toPersonnel by ethnicity and service, 2017 section
- 3. Navigate toOfficers by ethnicity and service over time section
- 4. Navigate toService personnel (all other ranks) over time section
- 5. Navigate toArmed forces personnel by ethnicity and rank section
- 6. Navigate to Methodology section
- 7. Navigate to Data sources section
- 8. Navigate to Download the data section
1. Main facts and figures
- in the first half of 2017, people from an ethnic minority background (other than White ethnic minorities) comprised 2.4% of officer ranks across all the UK armed forces
- for ranks below officer, 8.3% of all service personnel were from an ethnic minority background (other than White ethnic minorities)
Things you need to know
The lower representation of certain ethnic minorities in the armed forces could in part be explained by eligibility criteria for joining.
For example, to the join the Army, applicants must either have:
- the right to remain indefinitely in the UK
- lived in the UK for more than 5 years if they are from a Commonwealth country
Therefore, some recent migrants to the UK won’t be able to be recruited to the UK armed forces.
Someone may also not be able to join if they have a particular disability. This could be either physical or mental.
The data is extracted by the Ministry of Defence in April and October each year.
The statistics showing changes over time have been taken from the April figures for each year. However, there is virtually no change in the data between April and October. You can download the data showing percentages for both April and October.
Since 2009, Gurkha personnel have been able to transfer into the British Army. This can partially explain the larger proportion of personnel from ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) in the Army compared with the other UK armed forces.
Armed forces personnel do not have to declare their ethnic origin. These statistics relate to personnel with a known ethnicity. At 1 April 2017, the percentage of personnel in the UK armed forces who declared an ethnicity was 99.2%.
What the data measures
This data measures diversity in UK armed forces personnel (excluding reserve forces) by ethnicity and rank (for example, officer).
The counts are produced every 6 months and cover 2012 to the first half of 2017.
The table ‘Percentage of armed forces personnel by ethnicity and rank, 2017’ lists the ranks and insignia of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). These codes are designed to match the different military ranks of various NATO countries.
The NATO codes:
OF-1(D) to OF-10 refer to officer ranks, where OF-10 is the highest rank OR-1/OR-2 to OR-9 refer to ranks below officer, where OR-9 is the highest rank
The code OF-1(D) combines data from OF-1 and OF(D).
The ethnic categories used in this data
The following 2 categories were used:
- White (including White British and White ethnic minorities)
- Other (all other ethnic minorities)
These categories were chosen due to the small numbers involved.
2. Personnel by ethnicity and service, 2017
| Service | Officers | Other Ranks |
|---|---|---|
| Value | Value | |
| All Services | 2.4 | 8.3 |
| Army | 2.9 | 11.9 |
| Royal Air Force | 2.1 | 2.3 |
| Royal Navy/Royal Marines | 1.9 | 3.9 |
Download table data for ‘Personnel by ethnicity and service, 2017’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Personnel by ethnicity and service, 2017’ (CSV)
Summary of Armed forces workforce Personnel by ethnicity and service, 2017 Summary
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in the UK armed forces in April 2017, ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) made up 2.9% of officers in the Army and 1.9% of officers in the Royal Navy/Royal Marines
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Personnel from Other ethnic groups were better represented at ranks below officer compared with officers – across all services, they represented 8.3% of non-officer ranks
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the Army had the highest representation from Other ethnic groups at these ranks (11.9%), while the Royal Air Force had the lowest (2.3%)
3. Officers by ethnicity and service over time
| Service | Apr-12 | Apr-13 | Apr-14 | Apr-15 | Apr-16 | Apr-17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All Services | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.3 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| Army | 2.8 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.7 | 2.8 | 2.9 |
| Royal Air Force | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.3 | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.1 |
| Royal Navy/Royal Marines | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.8 | 1.9 |
Download table data for ‘Officers by ethnicity and service over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Officers by ethnicity and service over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Armed forces workforce Officers by ethnicity and service over time Summary
- from 2012 to 2017, the percentage of officers from Other ethnic groups in the UK armed forces remained at around 2.4%
- over this time, the Army and Royal Navy/Royal Marines have both seen increases in the percentage of officers from Other ethnic groups
- in the Army, the percentage increased from 2.8% to 2.9%, although between 2013 and 2015 it was at 2.7%
- in the Royal Navy/Royal Marines, the percentage increased from 1.8% in 2014 to 1.9% in 2017
- the Royal Air Force, however, has seen a decline in the representation from Other ethnic groups, from 2.3% in 2012 to 2.1% in 2017
4. Service personnel (all other ranks) over time
| Service | Apr-12 | Apr-13 | Apr-14 | Apr-15 | Apr-16 | Apr-17 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | % | % | % | % | % | |
| All Services | 7.9 | 8.1 | 8.1 | 8.0 | 8.0 | 8.3 |
| Army | 11.1 | 11.4 | 11.6 | 11.5 | 11.5 | 11.9 |
| Royal Air Force | 1.9 | 2.0 | 2.0 | 2.1 | 2.2 | 2.3 |
| Royal Navy/Royal Marines | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.9 | 4.0 | 3.9 | 3.9 |
Download table data for ‘Service personnel (all other ranks) over time’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Service personnel (all other ranks) over time’ (CSV)
Summary of Armed forces workforce Service personnel (all other ranks) over time Summary
- for the armed forces as a whole, there was a minimal increase (0.4 percentage points) in personnel from ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) in non-officer ranks between 2012 and 2017
- of all the armed services, the Royal Air Force has consistently had the lowest representation of ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) (1.9% in 2012 and 2.3% in 2017)
- the Army experienced the largest increase in personnel from ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) in non-officer ranks, from 11.1% in 2012 to 11.9% 2017 – twice the percentage point increase than in the Royal Air Force
- the percentage of personnel from ethnic minorities (other than White ethnic minorities) in non-officer ranks in the Royal Navy fell by 0.1 percentage point over the period
5. Armed forces personnel by ethnicity and rank
| NATO code | White | Other |
|---|---|---|
| % | % | |
| All Officers | 97.6 | 2.4 |
| OF-1(D) | 97.1 | 2.9 |
| OF-2 | 97.6 | 2.4 |
| OF-3 | 97.6 | 2.4 |
| OF-4 | 97.9 | 2.1 |
| OF-5 | 98.2 | 1.8 |
| OF-6 and above | 99.1 | withheld to protect confidentiality |
| All Other Ranks | 91.7 | 8.3 |
| OR-1/OR-2 | 92.4 | 7.6 |
| OR-3 | 85.6 | 14.4 |
| OR-4 | 90.0 | 10.0 |
| OR-6 | 92.6 | 7.4 |
| OR-7 | 95.1 | 4.9 |
| OR-8 | 97.2 | 2.8 |
| OR-9 | 98.7 | 1.3 |
Download table data for ‘Armed forces personnel by ethnicity and rank’ (CSV) Source data for ‘Armed forces personnel by ethnicity and rank’ (CSV)
Summary of Armed forces workforce Armed forces personnel by ethnicity and rank Summary
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for officer ranks, the highest percentage of personnel from Other ethnic groups was in OF-1(D), the lowest officer rank, at 2.9%
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moving up through the officer ranks, the percentage of personnel from Other ethnic groups declined steadily to 1.8% in OF-5 (equivalent to Colonel in the army)
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for non-officer ranks, the rank with the largest percentage of personnel from Other ethnic groups was OR-3 (equivalent to Lance Corporal in the army), at 14.4%
-
moving up through the non-officer ranks, the percentage of staff from Other ethnic groups drops significantly, to 2.8% of rank OR-8 and 1.3% of rank OR-9 (equivalent to Warrant Officer in the army)
For the full name of each rank for each service please see the download file.
6. Methodology
Personnel statistics are derived from the MOD’s JPA system. This is used for the administration of all armed forces personnel.
Extracts are taken from the JPA system each month and stored on a separate database to form a time series. The extracts are taken 6 days after the end of the month and calculate the situation as at the 1st of the month. This means that the statistics include data that may have been submitted to the JPA a few days late. However, some late reporting can affect the statistics – for example, when someone leaves or their status changes from untrained to trained.
The data goes through a series of automatic validation checks based on previous corrections. As a result of these checks, edits are made to the data to ensure basic data quality. A series of derived fields are also calculated.
Once the data is confirmed as being accurate, the database is queried to produce the range of tables. These tables undergo several rounds of checking and scrutiny to ensure the outputs are accurate and consistent, before being published.
All personnel in the regular armed forces must be recorded on the JPA system for them to receive their pay. Therefore, the overall ‘strength’ figures are accurate. However, more detailed breakdowns can be less accurate, due to the variable quality of the data entered. This is partly because some key information required for managing individuals is recorded and updated centrally, whereas other information is added by individuals themselves.
Rounding
In the diversity statistics in the source data tables, counts are rounded to the nearest 10. You can download these tables at the bottom of this page.
However, numbers ending in 5 have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent the systematic bias caused by always rounding numbers upwards.
For example, a value of 25 would be rounded down to 20 and a value of 15 would be rounded up to 20.
Totals and subtotals are rounded separately, so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts.
Quality and methodology information
7. Data sources
Source
UK armed forces biannual diversity statistics: 2017
Type of data
Administrative data
Type of statistic
National Statistics
Publisher
Ministry of Defence
Publication frequency
Twice a year
Purpose of data source
The main purpose of these statistics is to:
- inform policy and decision-making within the Ministry of Defence (MoD)
- measure the performance of the MoD against government and Parliament targets
- inform general debate in government, Parliament and the wider public
8. Download the data
The file contains ethnicity, year, rank, service, rate, number of personnel