Countries with the Most Militarised Workforce
This chart ranks countries by armed forces personnel as a share of the total labor force, measuring how much of a nation's working population serves in the military rather than the civilian economy.
About This Dataset
Countries with the Most Militarised WorkforceEritrea leads with 13.3% of its entire labor force in the armed forces, meaning roughly one in eight workers is a soldier, a consequence of indefinite national service that has driven mass emigration. North Korea follows on 8.6%, the only other country above 6%. The list is dominated by states shaped by conflict or conscription: Syria on 5.4%, Iraq on 4.4%, Israel on 4.2% and Lebanon on 4.1% all reflect prolonged instability in the Middle East. Djibouti's 5.4% is different, reflecting a tiny labor force alongside a strategically vital location. This measure captures the human cost of militarisation in a way spending figures cannot: every percentage point represents workers absent from productive civilian jobs.
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Countries with the Most Militarised Workforce
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