Chapter 2 - Personnel
                                     
Table 2.12 Strength of UK Regular Forces by sex and rank1 at 1 April each year
  1990   1997     2003   2004   2005   2006   2007   2008  
Female Officers 2 780 2   2 380     3 350   3 520   3 600   3 680   3 720 p 3 760 p
                                     
   by rank:                                    
   Major General and above -     -     -   -   -   -   - p - p
   Brigadier 7     2     3   3   4   3   2 p 2 p
   Colonel 24     16     31   34   39   41   39 p 39 p
   Lieutenant Colonel 66     80     140   150   170   180   200 p 210 p
   Major 370     420     670   730   760   820   890 p 920 p
   Captain 1 140     1 180     1 540   1 630   1 720   1 770   1 800 p 1 810 p
   Lieutenant and below 920     680     970   980   900   860   790 p 780 p
                                     
Male Officers 40 080     30 300     29 800   29 920   29 410   29 020   28 380 p 27 950 p
                                     
   by rank:                                    
   Major General and above 200     150     140   140   150   140   140 p 140 p
   Brigadier 380     350     360   370   350   350   340 p 350 p
   Colonel 1 490     1 110     1 160   1 180   1 170   1 160   1 150 p 1 140 p
   Lieutenant Colonel 4 550     3 790     3 910   3 960   3 960   3 880   3 870 p 3 860 p
   Major 11 420     9 540     9 460   9 400   9 250   9 130   8 860 p 8 680 p
   Captain 13 640     11 190     10 280   10 400   10 580   10 520   10 320 p 10 090 p
   Lieutenant and below 8 390     4 180     4 490   4 490   3 940   3 840   3 680 p 3 680 p
                                     
Female Other Ranks 14 690     12 450     14 560   14 870   14 560   14 190   13 920 p 13 860 p
                                     
   by rank:                                    
   Warrant Officer 140     170     280   300   320   320   350 p 350 p
   Staff Sergeant 360     370     520   550   560   590   570 p 610 p
   Sergeant 1 390     1 170     1 340   1 420   1 500   1 640   1 700 p 1 740 p
   Corporal3 2 980     2 360   ll 2 960   3 210   3 350   3 370   3 400 p 3 450 p
   Lance Corporal3 1 290     1 080   ll 1 570   1 510   1 520   1 550   1 500 p 1 500 p
   Private (including juniors) 8 530     7 300     7 900   7 880   7 310   6 730   6 400 p 6 210 p
                                     
Male Other Ranks 248 210     165 690     159 200   158 700   153 530   148 960   144 380 p 141 480 p
                                     
   by rank:                                    
   Warrant Officer 11 420     8 610     8 580   8 710   9 230   9 090   8 800 p 8 730 p
   Staff Sergeant 22 390     16 640     14 930   14 770   13 910   13 520   13 240 p 12 970 p
   Sergeant 34 050     24 130     21 480   21 670   21 410   20 950   20 260 p 19 570 p
   Corporal3 53 000     34 660   ll 29 360   29 260   29 150   28 340   27 250 p 26 850 p
   Lance Corporal3 22 550     15 290   ll 15 170   15 260   14 890   14 790   15 060 p 15 200 p
   Private (including juniors) 104 800     66 360     69 680   69 040   64 940   62 260   59 770 p 58 180 p
Females as a percentage of total4
Officers 6.5 2   7.3     10.1   10.5   10.9   11.3   11.6 p 11.9 p
                                     
   by rank:                                    
   Major General and above -     -     -   -   -   -   - p - p
   Brigadier 1.8     0.6     0.8   0.8   1.1   0.9   0.6 p 0.6 p
   Colonel 1.6     1.4     2.6   2.8   3.2   3.4   3.3 p 3.3 p
   Lieutenant Colonel 1.4     2.1     3.5   3.7   4.1   4.5   4.8 p 5.2 p
   Major 3.2     4.3     6.6   7.2   7.6   8.3   9.2 p 9.6 p
   Captain 7.7     9.5     13.0   13.5   14.0   14.4   14.8 p 15.2 p
   Lieutenant and below 9.9     13.9     17.7   17.9   18.6   18.4   17.7 p 17.5 p
                                     
Other Ranks 5.6     7.0     8.4   8.6   8.7   8.7   8.8 p 8.9 p
                                     
   by rank:                                    
   Warrant Officer 1.2     2.0     3.1   3.4   3.3   3.4   3.8 p 3.9 p
   Staff Sergeant 1.6     2.2     3.4   3.6   3.9   4.2   4.1 p 4.5 p
   Sergeant 3.9     4.6     5.9   6.1   6.6   7.3   7.7 p 8.1 p
   Corporal3 5.3     6.4   ll 9.2   9.9   10.3   10.6   11.1 p 11.4 p
   Lance Corporal3 5.4     6.6   ll 9.4   9.0   9.3   9.5   9.1 p 9.0 p
   Private (including juniors) 7.5     9.9     10.2   10.2   10.1   9.8   9.7 p 9.6 p
Source: DASA (Quad-Service)
UK Regular Forces includes all trained and untrained personnel. Gurkhas, Full Time Reserve personnel, and mobilised reservists are excluded.
1.  Figures are for paid rank and include equivalent ranks in the Naval Service and RAF. See Table 2.28.
2.  Includes 260 female Naval Officers of unknown rank.
3.  Royal Marines with a substantive rank of Marine but acting as Corporal are presented as Lance Corporal from 1 April 2003 onwards. Before this point      they are presented as Corporal.
4.  Percentages are calculated from unrounded data.
Figures fewer than 100 have been left unrounded so as not to obscure the data.
Due to ongoing validation of data from the Joint Personnel Administration System, Service strength statistics for 1 April 2007 and 1 April 2008 are provisional and subject to review.