Army recruitment

Release date:
25 February 2020

You asked

​I wondered if you could help with data sets that show where the army is recruiting from in terms of social, cultural, geographical and financial backgrounds from 1960 to today.

The following would be really helpful:

  • the regional areas i.e. counties the army is recruiting from in terms of numbers
  • the average age of recruits
  • how this average age compares to the average age of serving personnel in the same period
  • the roles which the army has prioritised over the decades in terms of recruitment
  • the background of recruits

We said

Thank you for your request.

Unfortunately, we do not collect or publish statistics relating to army recruitment. However, the Ministry of Defence may collect this type of information. They publish quarterly service personnel statistics (https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/quarterly-service-personnel-statistics-2019), which may be useful to you. To find out what other statistics are available, you can contact DefStrat-Stat-Army-Enquiries@mod.gov.uk.

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