Statizoid

Iran vs South Korea: Armed forces personnel

Iran
650,000
in 2020
South Korea
569,000
in 2020
Iran rank
10th
South Korea rank
11th

Armed forces personnel over time

  • Iran
  • South Korea
0200.0k400.0k600.0k800.0k198520022020

How they compare

Iran currently reports 650,000 against 569,000 in South Korea, a difference of 81,000.

That makes Iran's figure about 1.1 times South Korea's.

The two have swapped places 4 times across 33 shared years of data; in 1985 it was Iran ahead.

Iran ranks 10th and South Korea ranks 11th of 173 countries.

Individual pages

About this data

Indicator
Armed forces personnel
Source
The Military Balance - International Institute for Strategic Studies, via World Bank (2026) – processed by Our World in Data
Licence
CC BY 4.0 (Our World in Data)
Coverage
173 places, 5,352 data points, 1985–2020
Last refreshed

Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if their training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces.