http://cain.ulster.ac.uk/ni/security/security.htm
Table NI-SEC-03: British Army Personnel (number) in Northern Ireland, 1969 to 2005 (incomplete) | |||||||
Year | British Army Total | British Regiments | UDR / RIR Total | UDR / RIR Full-Time | UDR / RIR Part-Time | ||
1969 (Jun) |
2700 |
2700 |
|||||
1970 (Jan) |
8100 |
6300 |
1800 |
||||
1971 |
11800 |
7800 |
4000 |
||||
1972 |
22800 |
14300 |
8500 |
||||
1972 (Jul) |
30300 |
21800 |
8500 |
||||
1973 (Jan) |
26000 |
16900 |
9100 |
||||
1974 |
23900 |
16200 |
7700 |
||||
1975 |
22700 |
15000 |
7700 |
||||
1976 |
22800 |
15100 |
7700 |
||||
1977 |
21900 |
14300 |
7600 |
||||
1978 |
22200 |
14400 |
7800 |
||||
1979 |
21200 |
13600 |
7600 |
||||
1980 |
19300 |
11900 |
7400 |
||||
1981 |
19100 |
11600 |
7500 |
||||
1982 |
18011 |
10900 |
7111 |
2793 |
4318 |
||
1983 |
17125 |
10200 |
6925 |
2690 |
4235 |
||
1984 |
16468 |
10000 |
6468 |
2689 |
3779 |
||
1985 |
16194 |
9700 |
6494 |
2755 |
3739 |
||
1986 |
16908 |
10500 |
6408 |
2672 |
3736 |
||
1987 |
17931 |
11400 |
6531 |
2785 |
3746 |
||
1988 |
17593 |
11200 |
6393 |
2858 |
3535 |
||
1989 |
17430 |
11200 |
6230 |
2947 |
3283 |
||
1990 |
6043 |
2955 |
3088 |
||||
1991 |
6276 |
3277 |
2999 |
||||
1992 |
17417 |
12000 |
5417 |
2797 |
2620 |
||
1993 |
5412 |
2902 |
2510 |
||||
1994 (Jul) |
19500 |
5241 |
2956 |
2285 |
|||
1995 | |||||||
1996 | |||||||
1997 | |||||||
1998 |
15500 |
10500 |
5000 |
3000 |
2000 |
||
1999 |
15500 |
11150 |
4350 |
2500 |
1850 |
||
2000 (Jun) |
13500 |
||||||
2001 |
13000 |
||||||
2002 | 13681 |
||||||
2003 | 13311 |
||||||
2004 | 12658 |
||||||
2005 (31 Jul) | 10083 |
||||||
Planned Troop Levels 1 | |||||||
2006 (31 Mar) | 9200 |
||||||
2007 (31 Mar) | 8500 |
||||||
2007 (31 Jul) | 5000 |
||||||
Notes: | |||||||
1. The MOD confirmed on 28 March 2006 the major troop reductions to the planned level of no more than 5,000 by 31 Jul 07. | |||||||
UDR - Ulster Defence Regiment (A regiment of the British Army recruited in Northern Ireland, 1 April 1970 to 1 July 1992) | |||||||
RIR - Royal Irish Regiment (Established from the merger of the UDR and the Royal Irish Rangers on 1 July 1992) | |||||||
This information on British Army troop levels is incomplete, it is hoped to be able to complete the table in the future. | |||||||
Sources: | |||||||
Hadfield, B. (ed.) (1992) 'Northern Ireland: Politics and the Constitution'. Buckingham: Open University Press. | |||||||
Ireland Almanac and Yearbook of Facts, 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000 | |||||||
Northern Ireland Annual Abstract of Statistics, 1994 | |||||||
Various press reports. | |||||||
Table also available as: | |||||||
Rich Text Format (RTF) Document; Microsoft Excel Document |