The condition of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland at 1 January 2026 was 217 075 soldiers. Maintaining a advanced level of military numbers is the foundation for developing all defence capacity of the state and 1 of the key elements of strengthening the safety of Poland and the east flank of NATO.
The retention level in professional military service, which in 2025 was 94.53% and was highest since 2000, deserves peculiar emphasis. This consequence confirms the importance of measures taken to improve the conditions of service, professional improvement and strengthening the support strategy for soldiers and their families.
The household is an crucial aspect of military service. Nearly half of the soldiers stay married and 44% have at least 1 child. A full of 168,701 children are raised in military families. Practice indicates that many of them will decide to follow in the footsteps of their parent.
As the Chief of General Staff of the Polish Army, General Wiesław Kukuła, emphasizes:
"There is simply a circumstantial soldier behind all number in our statistic – a citizen who made a conscious decision to service Poland, frequently tying up a household with this service. The fact that so many of us decide to stay in service is, above all, proof of a strong recognition with the Armed Forces mission as a community and the support that our families give us. At the same time, it is our work as commanders to perceive carefully to those who give it up, especially at the beginning of their path. We are not an perfect organization, but it is our work to build Armed Forces in which a soldier has a deep sense of sense of service, a chance for professional development, but besides the chance to receive support – not only for himself, but besides for his family.
At the same time, the processes associated with the military career require peculiar attention. In 2025, 46% of soldiers leaving professional military service did not get pension rights, and a crucial part of these decisions were already taken in the first years of service, including in the first 5 years. This challenge remains the subject of detailed analyses and actions aimed at strengthening motivation for the long-term service and making greater usage of the possible of trained staff.
The staff structure is besides an crucial area for further reinforcement. Currently, officers represent only 12.6% of the individual position of the Armed Forces of Poland, which remains a noticeablely lower level than in another NATO countries, where this rate is around 20%. Strengthening the officer corps is 1 of the key directions of further improvement of the Polish Armed Forces, which is fundamental to the strength and quality of our leadership.
The presented data confirm that the Armed Forces of the Republic of Poland stay a stable, developing and modern organization based on the engagement of soldiers and strong social foundations, and further actions will be consistently directed towards strengthening the human resources and defence capabilities of the Republic of Poland.
Text: Colonel Marek Pietrzak