A police force is a government institution that maintains law and order in a state or nation. A police force is made up of male and female police officers who are appointed in order to apprehend criminals, prevent crimes, assist and protect the citizens.
All the police officers are sworn to an oath to protect the citizens. The police officers of different states and different countries have their own jurisdiction and power, most of them have the power to arrest the criminals and detain them. These people are then given a fair chance at the court to defend themselves. Some of the police officers are given special training for counter-terrorism, VIP protection; civil law enforcement etc. and these vary with countries.
Responsibilities and duties of a police officer may vary greatly with the political context. However, the general purpose and responsibility of every police force in the world are to ensure the safety of their citizens.
Here is the list of countries with the world’s largest police force.
10. Nigeria
Nigeria has the 10th largest police force in the world. This is the only country on this list from the African continent. Nigeria has a policing ratio of 205 police officers per 100,000 citizens. Nigeria is the 7th largest country in the world in terms of population (174 million). This country even though a poor with a very low GDP has a lot of issues like drug trafficking, robbery, piracy etc.
Number of police officers – 350,572
9. Pakistan
Pakistan has the 9th largest police officers in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 207 police officers per 100,000 citizens. Pakistan is considered to be one of the most volatile and dangerous countries on the Asian continent. This nation shares its border with Afghanistan and India, the Wagah border ceremony conducted by India and Pakistan is one of the most famous ceremonies conducted by the police.
Number of police officers – 354,143
8. Turkey
Turkey has the 8th largest police force in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 538 police officers per 100,000 people. But, considering the total population of the country this country has the 2nd best policing ratio. One of the key reasons for such large ratio is because Turkey relies greatly on the Tourism industry, and there had been terrorist issues in the country.
Number of police officers – 412,624
7. Brazil
Brazil has the 7th largest police force in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 282 police officers per 100,000 citizens. However, considering the total population, the drug trafficking, higher homicide rates in the country, this policing ratio is small. Some experts have indicated that the Brazilian police force has an unethical approach towards violent crimes and this alone has contributed to a small percentage increase in crime rates.
Number of police officers –478,001
6. Mexico
Mexico has the 6th largest police force in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 460 police officers per 100,000 citizens. This country is renowned for drug cartels and homicides. It is estimated that around 4000 federal officers were killed in Mexico since 2006. The drug war in Mexico is one of the key reasons for such a massive police force.
Number of police officers –544,000
5. Indonesia
Indonesia has the 5th largest police force in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 243 police officers per 100,000 citizens. This country has approximately 237 million people and the policing ratio is comparatively small. Maintaining the law and order in this country is a mammoth task as the country is made 17,500 islands and this is why the police force also has a marine police department.
Number of police officers –579,000
4. Russia
Russia has the 4th largest police force in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 546 police officers per 100,000 citizens. One of the key reasons for such high policing ratio is the presence of the criminal mafia’s, drug cartels, human traffickers, and above all vast territory. Estimates indicate that Russia has almost 6.59 million square miles of area as their territory and a very strong and huge police force is required to patrol the whole nation.
Number of police officers – 782,001
3. United States of America
The USA has the 3rd largest police force in the world. This country has a policing ratio of 254 police officers per 100,000 citizens. One of the key reasons such small policing ratio in a high population country is because this nation has a democratic government system and they don’t believe that they have to rely on huge heavily armed police officers to maintain the law and order.
Number of police officers – 794,300
2. India
India has the 2nd largest police force in the world. This country has one of the lowest policing ratios of 120 police officers per 100,000 citizens. Despite being one of the world’s most populated countries, India has numerous under-policed regions. Studies indicate that VIP’s in India enjoy great security and service from the police force than an average Indian citizen.
Number of police officers – 1,585,353
1. China
China has the world’s largest police force. Despite being the largest populated country in the world China has a low policing ratio of 120 police officers per 100,000 citizens. This country is known to have one of the world’s most corrupted police force. There were many reports indicating that many police stations were used as gambling centers. Being a communist country, the actual number of the police force may vary because the country has a separate policing department often referred to as People’s Armed Police.
Number of police officers – 1,600,000
All the above-mentioned data’s were collected from several online websites. The ranking was done only on the basis of the total size of the police force of each country.
I’m Hina Khan, working as a writer at Worldblaze.in blog. I love dancing and listening punjabi music. Here I’m sharing all the interesting stuffs that will definitely entertain you.