WWII: annual manpower of major powers 1939-1945| ��ƽ��

Estimated annual armed forces of the major powers of the Second World War from 1939 to 1945 (in 1,000s)

Characteristic	United States	Germany	United Kingdom	Soviet Union	Italy	Japan	France
1945	11,430	7,830	5,090	12,100	-	7,730	-
1944	11,410	9,420	4,967	12,225	-	5,380	-
1943	9,020	9,480	4,761	11,858	3,815	3,700	-
1942	3,970	8,410	4,091	11,340	3,810	2,840	-
1941	1,620	7,309	3,383	7,100	3,227	2,420	-
1940	-	5,762	2,273	5,000	2,340	1,630	7,000
1939	-	4,522	480	-	1,740	-	5,000

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Release date

1998

More information

Region

Worldwide

Survey time period

1939 to 1945

Supplementary notes

Although not stated by the source, figures suggest that forces from respective colonial territories or dominions are included.

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For most of the Second World War, the Soviet Union had the largest number of active military personnel each year, peaking at over 12 million people in the war's final years. The Soviet Union's ability to draw from its larger population was decisive in its eventual victory over Germany in 1945, whose eastern forces were greatly diminished by 1944 after it had already suffered heavy losses fighting the Soviets and was then forced to fight on the western front.

Each of the Great Powers had varying conscription systems in place that allowed them to draft citizens into the military. In the U.S., over 50 million men aged 18-45 would register for the draft before the war's end, and over 10 million of these were inducted into the military (alongside volunteers and those already in service). Conscription in Japan grew more aggressive as the war progressed, and its armed forces doubled in size in the final two years of the war.