§ Mr. KeetchTo ask the Secretary of State for Defence how many members of serving military personnel in(a) the Army, (b) the Royal Air Force and (c) the Royal Navy are (i) single, (ii) married, (iii) divorced and (iv) separated listed by age ranges (1) 16 to 20, (2) 20 to 24, (3) 30 to 34, (4) 35 to 39, (5) 40 to 44, (6) 45 to 49, (7) 50 to 59 and (8) 60 and over; what percentage of force strength this represents in each age range; and if he will make a statement. [27677]
§ Mr. Ingram:[holding answer 23 January 2002]: The current strength of UK regular forces by marital status and age range is as follows:
19W
Age Single Percentage Married Percentage Divorced Percentage Separated Percentage Widowed Percentage Total RAF 24 and under 10,528 90.0 1,072 9.2 8 0.1 89 0.8 — 0.0 11,697 25–29 4,653 52.9 3,607 41.0 180 2.0 360 4.1 — 0.0 8,800 30–34 2,392 21.0 7,601 66.6 615 5.4 787 6.9 13 0.1 11,408 35–39 903 8.4 8,477 79.0 672 6.3 662 6.2 15 0.1 10,729 40–44 287 4.9 4,975 84.3 325 5.5 298 5.1 14 0.2 5,899 45 and over 124 2.7 4,154 89.4 201 4.3 137 2.9 30 0.6 4,646 Grand total 18,887 35.5 29,886 56.2 2,001 3.8 2,333 4.4 72 0.1 53,179 Source:
DASA (Tri-Service)
Separate divorced/separated figures are not available for the Naval service. Widowed figures are also not available for the Naval service. Separate figures are not available for the Army. These are included in the married figures. Figures are provided for the UK regular forces and show trained and untrained personnel including officers and other ranks. The figures exclude gurkhas, full time reserve service personnel, home service battalions of the Royal Irish Regiment and mobilised reservists.