Editing British Armed Forces (section)

===Personnel===
[[File:Soldiers Trooping the Colour, 16th June 2007.jpg|thumb|[[Welsh Guards]] [[Trooping the Colour]]]]
As of 1 July 2023 the British Armed Forces are a professional force with a total strength of 185,980 personnel, consisting of 140,300 UK Regulars and 4,140 [[Brigade of Gurkhas|Gurkhas]], 33,210 [[Volunteer Reserves (United Kingdom)|Volunteer Reserve]]s and 8,330 "Other Personnel".{{efn|Other Personnel includes personnel of the [[Military Provost Guard Service]], [[Regular Reserve (United Kingdom)|Regular Reserves]] called up for duty and the [[Sponsored Reserves]].<ref name="quarterly personnel report"/>}}<ref name="quarterly personnel report">[https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2023/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-1-july-2023#uk-service-personnel]. UK Armed Forces: Quarterly Service Personnel Statistics. 1 July 2023. MoD. Published 17 September 2023. Retrieved 23 September 2023.</ref> As a percentage breakdown of UK Service Personnel, 77.1% are UK Regulars and Gurkhas, 18.8% are Volunteer Reserves and 4.1% are composed of Other Personnel.<ref name="quarterly personnel report"/> In addition, all ex-Regular personnel retain a "statutory liability for service" and are liable to be recalled (under Section 52 of the Reserve Forces Act (RFA) 1996) for duty during wartime, which is known as the [[Regular Reserve (United Kingdom)|Regular Reserve]]. MoD publications since April 2013 no longer report the entire strength of the Regular Reserve, instead they only give a figure for Regular Reserves who serve under a fixed-term reserve contract. These contracts are similar in nature to those of the Volunteer Reserve.<ref name="Regular Reserve">[https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/314795/uk_reserve_force_cadets_2014.pdf gov.uk MoD – reserves and cadet strengths] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160308182849/https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/314795/uk_reserve_force_cadets_2014.pdf |date=8 March 2016 }}, table 4 page 13. See note 2. April 2014.</ref>

The distribution of personnel between the services and categories of service on 1 July 2023 was as follows:<ref name="quarterly personnel report" />

{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Service !! Regular !! Volunteer<br />Reserve !! Other<br />personnel !! Total
|-
| Navy || align="right"| 32,360 || align="right"| 3,370 || align="right"| 2,480 || align="right"| '''38,220'''
|-
| Army and Gurkhas|| align="right"| 80,360 || align="right"| 26,760, || align="right"| 4,530 || align="right"| '''111,650'''
|-
| Air Force || align="right"| 31,710 || align="right"| 3,080 || align="right"| 1,320 || align="right"| '''36,110'''
|-
| '''Total''' || align="right"| '''144,330''' || align="right"| '''33,210''' || align="right"| '''8,330''' || align="right"| '''185,980'''
|}
On 1 April 2024, most personnel in the UK Regular Forces were stationed in the United Kingdom (around 96%).<ref name=":3">{{Cite web |date=13 Aug 2024 |title=UK defence personnel statistics - House of Commons Library |url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-7930/ |last1=Kirk-Wade |first1=Esme }}</ref>

Of the 5,700 personnel stationed overseas, around two thirds were in Europe (66%), while 14% were stationed in North America, 6% in North Africa and the Middle East, 6% in Asia and 5% in Sub-Saharan Africa.<ref name=":3" /> 1,230 personnel were distributed across several regions in Germany, primarily [[North Rhine-Westphalia]] as part of [[British Army Germany]]. However, up to 750 of these were Locally Engaged Civilians.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Allison |first=George |date=2024-10-26 |title=British troops in Germany draws down to 1,200 from 30,000 |url=https://ukdefencejournal.org.uk/british-troops-in-germany-draws-down-to-1200-from-30000/ |access-date=2024-11-22 |language=en-GB}}</ref>