The U.S. ranks 3rd in armed forces personnel

According to the World Bank, in 2008 there were 1,540,000 military members in the United States, or 5.6% of the world’s 27,469,342 armed forces personnel. That was enough to make the United States rank third out of one hundred sixty seven countries with armed forces. China ranks first, with 2,885,000 military members, or 10.5% of the world’s total.

Ten countries–China, India, the United States, Russia, North Korea, Pakistan, Egypt, Brazil, South Korea, and Turkey–account for almost one half (49.5%) of the world’s total armed forces personnel.