People employed in the New Zealand Defence Force
All services, as at 30 June 1998–2023
| Year ended June | Number of people |
|---|---|
| 2023 | 14,996 |
| 2022 | 15,191 |
| 2021 | 15,472 |
| 2020 | 15,232 |
| 2019 | 14,886 |
| 2018 | 14,770 |
| 2017 | 14,450 |
| 2016 | 14,189 |
| 2015 | 13,930 |
| 2014 | 13,879 |
| 2013 | 13,578 |
| 2012 | 13,436 |
| 2011 | 14,346 |
| 2010 | 14,577 |
| 2009 | 14,612 |
| 2008 | 13,889 |
| 2007 | 13,552 |
| 2006 | 13,370 |
| 2005 | 12,893 |
| 2004 | 12,853 |
| 2003 | 12,904 |
| 2002 | 13,015 |
| 2001 | 13,515 |
| 2000 | 14,154 |
| 1999 | 14,748 |
| 1998 | 15,512 |
Notes
Prior to 2015, the employment numbers were calculated as full-time equivalents rather than a count of individuals.
Definitions
The NZDF Regular Force is made up of full-time members of the Royal New Zealand Navy, the Regular Force of the New Zealand Army, and the Regular Air Force collectively.
NZDF Reserves are part time members of the military who, in addition to their civilian employment, have a parallel career in the NZ Defence Force as a member of the Navy, Army or Air Force.
Civilians are employed by NZDF in roles that do not require deployment in an operational environment. Civilian numbers include Veterans' Affairs New Zealand and locally employed civilians overseas.
Attrition rate: the number of terminations in the previous 12 months divided by the average staff of the previous 12 months. It excludes Reserves.
Changes to data collection/processing
For the civilian counts, FTE (full-time equivalents) is used up to and including the Year ended June 2014. From the year 2015 onwards reporting, it changed to a headcount measure. Regular and Reserves are consistently reported as headcount.
Data provided by
Dataset name
New Zealand Defence Force Annual Report: Employment summary 2023
Webpage:
https://www.nzdf.mil.nz/search/SearchForm?Search=annual+report
How to find the data
At URL provided, select the latest NZDF Annual Report. Figure.NZ collated the figures from each PDF under guidance from staff at NZDF.
Import & extraction details
File as imported: New Zealand Defence Force Annual Report: Employment summary 2023
From the dataset New Zealand Defence Force Annual Report: Employment summary 2023, this data was extracted:
- Sheet: NZDF Personnel
- Range:
C4:G111 - Provided: 450 data points
This data forms the table Defence Force - Employment by service and status 1998–2023.
Dataset originally released on:
October 31, 2023