Visualizing Europe’s Biggest Armies
Europe’s military landscape is rapidly evolving, shaped by both historical rivalries and modern-day conflicts. As tensions persist—particularly due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine—military spending and troop numbers have surged across the continent.
This visualization, via Visual Capitalist’s Bruno Venditti, breaks down the estimated size of military forces across Europe in 2025. It covers both active personnel and total military strength, which includes reserves and paramilitary units. The data for this visualization comes from GlobalFirepower. Countries are also categorized by NATO membership.
Russia and Ukraine Tower Over the Rest
Russia leads with 1.3 million active personnel and over 3.5 million total military personnel, the largest force in Europe. Ukraine, bolstered by wartime mobilization, has about 900,000 active troops and 2.2 million total personnel.
Combined, these two non-NATO countries account for more military manpower than all of Western Europe combined.
| UK | 1,108,860 | 184,860 | NATO |
| Finland | 947,800 | 24,000 | NATO |
| Turkiye | 883,900 | 355,200 | NATO |
| Poland | 602,100 | 202,100 | NATO |
| Greece | 419,050 | 142,700 | NATO |
| France | 376,000 | 200,000 | NATO |
| Italy | 289,000 | 165,500 | NATO |
| Portugal | 260,400 | 24,000 | NATO |
| Spain | 226,902 | 133,282 | NATO |
| Germany | 215,600 | 181,600 | NATO |
| Romania | 151,300 | 81,300 | NATO |
| Lithuania | 141,150 | 23,000 | NATO |
| Estonia | 96,500 | 7,700 | NATO |
| Denmark | 83,000 | 20,000 | NATO |
| Sweden | 82,300 | 24,400 | NATO |
| Hungary | 76,600 | 41,600 | NATO |
| Norway | 63,250 | 23,250 | NATO |
| Netherlands | 53,145 | 41,380 | NATO |
| Czechia | 32,200 | 28,000 | NATO |
| Russia | 3,570,000 | 1,320,000 | Non-NATO |
| Ukraine | 2,200,000 | 900,000 | Non-NATO |
| Serbia | 627,000 | 25,000 | Non-NATO |
| Switzerland | 156,299 | 101,584 | Non-NATO |
| Austria | 141,600 | 16,000 | Non-NATO |
NATO’s Largest Armies: Turkey, Poland, and the UK
Among NATO countries, Turkey leads with 355,200 active troops, followed by Poland (202,100) and the UK (184,860). These nations have steadily expanded their forces in recent years, reacting to regional instability and NATO commitments.
France, Italy and Germany also maintain sizable active forces.
Small Countries, Big Reserves
Several smaller countries maintain large total military forces relative to their active troop numbers. Finland, for example, has 24,000 active personnel but nearly 948,000 total military personnel due to its substantial reserve system.
If you enjoyed today’s post, check out Charted: Ukraine Is Russia’s Third Deadliest War on Voronoi, the new app from Visual Capitalist.
Tyler Durden
Wed, 09/24/2025 – 02:45
