“Poland has the third largest army in NATO in terms of numbers,” National Security Bureau head, Major Jacek Siewiera said, referring to data collected by NATO. The Alliance’s estimates show that the Polish Army, with over 216,000 troops, is the third largest NATO army with only US and Turkey ahead in number.

The NATO main website nato.int published a report showing detailed data concerning defence spending and the size of the armed forces of the allied countries. The presented data cover the period from 2014 to mid-2024 (12 June), with estimates for 2023 and 2024.

In a post on X, the BBN chief presented the latest figures on troop numbers.

“Poland has the third largest army in NATO! Even if the figures published today by the Alliance from the ‘Defence Expenditure of NATO Countries’ report are estimates for this year, ‘POLAND IS FIRST ARMY IN EUROPE’ is becoming a fact. And this is also a factor that puts the spectre of war away…” he wrote. 

According to the data cited by Major Siewiera, the Polish Army, whose current number is estimated at 216,100 soldiers, is the third largest army in NATO, after the US, whose armed forces currently number 1,300,000 soldiers, and Turkey, with 481,000 military personnel. 

Poland therefore overtakes western European countries such as France (205,700) Germany (185,600) and Italy (171,400). According to the presented data, the United Kingdom has 138,100 soldiers. 

Photo: www.gov.pl

Tomasz Modrzejewski