Poll Reveals Most Brits Wouldn't Fight For Their Country

Not Many Brits Would Be Willing To Fight For Their Country
|
Open Image Modal
Brigadier Darrell Amison, commander Joint Force Support, at Copehill Down Village, as 20th Armoured Brigade prepare for deployment to Afghanistan on the very last UK forces Operation HERRICK (Op HERRICK 20).
Ben Birchall/PA Archive

Statistics showing the percentage of residents willing to join their nation's armed forces have revealed some startling results about the British.

Far from the World War days when boys would lie to sign up and men would queue for hours at the recruitment offices, only 27% of Brits would be willing to fight for their country today.

This also contrasts shockingly with the world average of 60%. In fact, the majority of Western European countries are the same.

Open Image Modal

France, Britain, Spain, Italy and Germany all had less than half the percentage willing to take up arms than the world average.

Those in Japan were the most unlikely to fight for their country, with only 11% saying they would. In China the number was 71%.

Moroccans and Fijians were the most ready to take up arms at 94%.

The survey, conducted across 64 countries, found that 18-24 year-olds were most likely to say they would take up arms, while men were 15% more likely to do so than women.

WIN/Gallup collected the data, which also showed that the Middle East and North Africa had the most people willing to fight for their flag, with 83% across the region saying they would.