UKDS 2009 Introduction








Welcome to the 2009 edition of UK Defence Statistics, the annual statistical compendium published by the Ministry of Defence.

There are some new tables in this year’s edition, including a new section on sustainable development in Chapter 7, and new Health tables in Chapter 3 including psychiatric morbidity, medical discharges, and the Armed Forces Compensation Scheme. Following consultation, the section on Northern Ireland has been removed this year, as the Royal Irish Regiment has now been disbanded.

UK Defence Statistics (UKDS) is a National Statistics publication, produced according to the standards of the Official Statistics Code of Practice. However some of the tables in UKDS do not have National Statistics status – some are produced by areas outside of the scope of the Government Statistical Service; some do not yet meet all the quality standards of the Official Statistics Code of Practice; and others have not gone through the required assessment process to be classed as National Statistics. All such tables are clearly marked with explanatory notes.

This year UKDS is being issued as a web document only. Unfortunately due to financial constraints we are unable to also publish it as a hard copy as we have done in previous years. However, all the tables are available to print out in pdf format. The pocket cards and factsheet will also not be printed in hardcopy this year, but again will be available to print out in pdf format.

Defence Analytical Services and Advice (DASA) also publish a number of monthly and quarterly statistical bulletins; these are available on our web site or from the DASA contact points listed in the Contact Us section.

Symbols

}categories merged for some years
||discontinuity in time series
~ fewer than five
*not applicable
..not available
pprovisional
rrevised
r,prevised but still provisional
eestimate
-Zero or rounded to zero
Italic figures are used for percentages and other rates, except where otherwise indicated.

Rounding

Where rounding has been used, totals and sub-totals have been rounded separately and so may not equal the sums of their rounded parts. This also applies to Civilian personnel data expressed in terms of Full-Time Equivalents (FTE).  
When rounding to the nearest 10, numbers ending in “5” have been rounded to the nearest multiple of 20 to prevent systematic bias.    

Abbreviations

See Glossary.