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World Map of Peace

Blue Helmets: the UN peacekeeping missions

At the end of October 2025 the United Nations ran eleven peacekeeping missions with 67,783 people in total. Who the Blue Helmets are, where they are deployed, which countries provide the most personnel and what role Germany plays

Key points at a glance

  • Blue Helmets are soldiers, police officers and military observers mandated by the UN Security Council for UN peacekeeping. According to the UN count there have been 71 such missions since 1948, eleven are currently running (as of 31.10.2025).
  • At the end of October 2025, 59,376 uniformed people from 121 countries were serving in the missions. Nepal, Rwanda, Bangladesh and India provided the most personnel.
  • The three basic principles of UN peacekeeping are the consent of the parties, impartiality, and the non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate.
  • The UN peacekeeping budget for 2025/26 was around 5.38 billion US dollars. At the end of October 2025 Germany ranked 49th among troop contributors with 193 uniformed personnel.

In numbers

67,783

people in 11 UN missions

total personnel, as of 31.10.2025

121

countries provide uniformed personnel

as of 31.10.2025

71

missions since 1948

by UN count, eleven of them running

The ten largest troop and police contributors to UN peacekeepingSource: United Nations, country ranking of uniformed personnel, as of 31.10.2025. Uniformed personnel are troops, police, military observers and staff officers.
  • Nepal6,029
  • Rwanda5,880
  • Bangladesh5,568
  • India5,165
  • Pakistan2,662
  • Ghana2,636
  • Indonesia2,461
  • China1,875
  • Tanzania1,531
  • Ethiopia1,527
Women among the uniformed personnel of the five largest contributorsSource: United Nations, country ranking of uniformed personnel, as of 31.10.2025. Total per country and of which women.

Uniformed personnel

Nepal
6,029
Rwanda
5,880
Bangladesh
5,568
India
5,165
Pakistan
2,662

of which women

Nepal
586
Rwanda
694
Bangladesh
366
India
169
Pakistan
147
The five largest UN missions by total personnelSource: UN Department of Peace Operations, Fact Sheet October 2025, as of 31.10.2025. Total personnel includes uniformed personnel, international and local civilian staff and UN Volunteers.
  • MINUSCA (Central African Republic)18,668
  • UNMISS (South Sudan)18,162
  • MONUSCO (DR Congo)13,202
  • UNIFIL (Lebanon)10,724
  • UNISFA (Abyei)3,607
Data basis
UN Fact Sheet October 2025 and country ranking, as of 31.10.2025
Publisher
United Nations, Department of Peace Operations
Current missions
11, list of the UN website of 15.05.2026
How to read it
Uniformed personnel are troops, police, military observers and staff officers

Who are the Blue Helmets?

Blue Helmets are soldiers, police officers and military observers deployed for a United Nations peacekeeping mission. The deployment and the mandate are decided by the UN Security Council. The name comes from the blue helmets and berets by which the units can be recognised. Behind it are UN peacekeeping missions with clearly defined tasks, such as monitoring a ceasefire or protecting civilians.

At the end of October 2025, according to the UN fact sheet, 59,376 uniformed people were deployed: 50,963 soldiers in troop units, 5,852 police officers, 934 military observers and 1,627 staff officers. In addition there were 2,813 international and 4,474 local civilian staff and 1,120 UN Volunteers. That makes 67,783 people in eleven missions, and the uniformed personnel came from 121 countries. The UN country ranking shows 59,372 uniformed personnel; the UN does not explain the difference of four people.

The figures apply to the position on 31.10.2025; more recent monthly reports could not be retrieved when this page was written. The Blue Helmets are under UN command. Spending on the states’ own armed forces is covered on the page World military expenditure.

Which UN missions are currently running?

According to the United Nations list of 15 May 2026, eleven peacekeeping missions are running. The oldest is UNTSO in the Middle East since May 1948, the youngest MINUSCA in the Central African Republic since April 2014. The table below lists all eleven with area, start and total personnel as of 31.10.2025.

The sizes differ greatly. At the end of October 2025 MINUSCA had 18,668 staff, UNMISS in South Sudan 18,162 and MONUSCO in the DR Congo 13,202. UNMOGIP on the border between India and Pakistan had 109, UNTSO 356. The third chart above shows the five largest missions.

For UNIFIL in Lebanon, the Security Council extended the mandate for the last time with resolution 2790 of 28 August 2025, until 31 December 2026, followed by a wind-down phase. Which wars and conflicts exist at present is a separate question and is covered on the page Current wars worldwide. The missions are only described here, not assessed.

Which countries provide the most soldiers and police officers?

At the end of October 2025 Nepal led with 6,029 uniformed personnel, followed by Rwanda with 5,880, Bangladesh with 5,568 and India with 5,165. In places 5 to 10 came Pakistan with 2,662, Ghana with 2,636, Indonesia with 2,461, China with 1,875, Tanzania with 1,531 and Ethiopia with 1,527. The first chart above shows the ten countries.

The share of women varies. Among the five largest contributors it was 694 of 5,880 in Rwanda, 586 of 6,029 in Nepal and 169 of 5,165 in India. In total the UN country ranking shows 5,887 women and 53,485 men.

Germany ranked 49th with 193 uniformed personnel: 164 in troops, 15 as experts, 9 as individual police officers and 5 as staff officers. Which countries keep no army of their own is described on the page Countries without an army.

Since when have there been UN missions and how have they developed?

The first mission was UNTSO in May 1948: the Security Council sent UN military observers to monitor the ceasefire agreement between Israel and its Arab neighbours. UNEF I, set up in 1956 in connection with the Suez Crisis, is regarded as the first armed peacekeeping operation. The blue helmets and berets also date from this period.

During the Congo crisis from 1960 the operation ONUC was deployed, in which 250 UN personnel died, among them Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld. In 1988 the UN peacekeeping forces received the Nobel Peace Prize. The committee recognised that under extremely difficult conditions they had helped to reduce tensions where a ceasefire had been negotiated but no peace treaty yet concluded. More on the prize and how it is awarded is on the page Nobel Peace Prize.

In total the United Nations count 71 missions since 1948; on its history page it speaks of more than 70. The range of mandates extends from monitoring ceasefires to protecting civilians and supporting national authorities.

What principles do the missions follow?

The UN names three principles: the consent of the parties, impartiality, and the non-use of force except in self-defence and defence of the mandate. Impartiality does not mean inaction: breaches of the peace process are not to be overlooked.

Force is permitted only with the authorisation of the Security Council and as a last resort, limited to what is necessary. So-called robust mandates allow all necessary means to be used, for example to counter disruption of the political process, protect civilians or support national authorities. This is distinct from peace enforcement under Chapter VII of the UN Charter, which does not require the consent of the parties.

Neither Chapter VI nor Chapter VII of the UN Charter mentions the word peacekeeping. Chapter VI governs the peaceful settlement of disputes, Chapter VII measures in response to threats to the peace. For the middle ground the expression Chapter VI½ is often used, said to have been coined by Secretary-General Hammarskjöld during the Congo crisis in 1960. The expression is technical language and not a legal term of the Charter.

How is Germany involved in UN missions?

The Bundeswehr first took part in October 1991 in the UN mission UNAMIC in Cambodia, with up to 15 medical personnel until March 1992. Before that there was only support such as air transport and material, for example for UNEF II in 1973 and UNIFIL in 1978. In UNTAC 1992/93 in Cambodia around 150 medical personnel with a 60-bed field hospital were deployed, from 22 May 1992 to 12 November 1993. It was the first deployment with a Bundeswehr soldier killed.

According to UN data, Germany currently provides 193 uniformed personnel (as of 31.10.2025). For missions with a UN link the Bundeswehr gives the following ceilings: for UNIFIL in Lebanon up to 300 soldiers until 31 December 2026 and up to 80 from 1 January 2027; the operational mission ends on 31 December 2026 and the wind-down by 30 June 2027. For UNMISS in South Sudan the ceiling is 50, for MINURSO in Western Sahara 4. One staff officer serves in the mission UNMHA in Yemen (as of 02.06.2025).

The Bundeswehr’s UNMISS mandate runs until 31 October 2026. The federal government has applied for an extension until 31 October 2027 with an unchanged ceiling (printed paper 21/8293); the first reading in the Bundestag was on 7 October 2026. As of 23.10.2026 no decision is known. The Bundestag decides authoritatively on mandates and ceilings; current information is on bundestag.de and bundeswehr.de. Germany’s spending at a glance is shown on the page Germany’s military spending.

United Nations, Principles of peacekeeping

There are three basic principles that continue to set UN peacekeeping operations apart as a tool for maintaining international peace and security.

Sources

All country pages

The eleven current UN peacekeeping missions

The eleven current UN peacekeeping missions
MissionAreaStartTotal personnel
UNTSOMiddle EastMay 1948356
UNMOGIPIndia and PakistanJanuary 1949109
UNFICYPCyprusMarch 1964908
UNDOFGolanMay 19741,301
UNIFILLebanonMarch 197810,724
MINURSOWestern SaharaApril 1991418
UNMIKKosovoJune 1999328
MONUSCODR CongoJanuary 201013,202
UNISFAAbyeiJune 20113,607
UNMISSSouth SudanJuly 201118,162
MINUSCACentral African RepublicApril 201418,668

Source: UN Department of Peace Operations, Fact Sheet October 2025, total personnel as of 31.10.2025; list of missions according to peacekeeping.un.org, as of 15.05.2026. Total: 67,783. The Security Council extended the UNIFIL mandate for the last time until 31.12.2026 with resolution 2790 (2025).

More in this series

More questions about UN peacekeeping

Why do UN soldiers wear blue helmets?

According to the United Nations information page, the beret and helmet were created by Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld in the early days of the UNEF mission. The UN diplomat Brian Urquhart describes that a conspicuous headgear was needed that is easy to recognise even from a distance.

Blue berets were not available in time. Instead, according to Urquhart, plastic helmet liners were sprayed blue, and the first units in Egypt wore them.

How much does UN peacekeeping cost?

For 2025/26 the UN General Assembly approved budgets totalling around 5.38 billion US dollars on 1 July 2025. They cover twelve missions, the logistics hubs in Entebbe and Brindisi and the support account. For 2024/25 the United Nations give around 5.6 billion US dollars. UNTSO and UNMOGIP are not paid from this budget but from the regular UN budget.

The costs are shared among the member states under a separate scale of assessments. For 2024/25 the United States stood at 26.95 percent, China at 18.69 percent, Japan at 8.03 percent and Germany at 6.11 percent. How the total compares with world military spending is shown on the page World military expenditure.

How many peacekeepers have died in service?

According to the United Nations, more than 4,400 peacekeeping personnel from around 120 countries have died since 1948. The UN points out that its statistics are still under review and may contain gaps or errors.

For comparison: when the 1988 Nobel Peace Prize was awarded, the Nobel Committee cited around 500,000 people from 53 countries who had served with the peacekeeping forces between 1948 and 1988, of whom 733 died.

How do UN operations differ from NATO and EU operations?

UN peacekeeping is under UN command and is paid for from the UN peacekeeping budget. NATO or European Union operations are led by those organisations with their own command structures. The UN Security Council can authorise them, which is a legal basis and not UN command.

One example is Kosovo. The NATO-led KFOR rests on Security Council resolution 1244 of 10 June 1999, its deployment began on 12 June 1999, and around 4,700 soldiers from 31 states currently serve there. The UN mission UNMIK exists in parallel. In Bosnia and Herzegovina the European Union leads the operation EUFOR Althea, which the Security Council authorised with resolution 1575 in 2004 and which is renewed annually.

What does UN peacekeeping have to do with W3ltfrieden?

The Blue Helmets are an instrument of the United Nations with a Security Council mandate. On W3ltfrieden the term peace mission means something different: there, people on the ground present projects for peaceful coexistence that others can support. How this works is explained on the page Peace missions.

This page describes UN peacekeeping and assesses neither individual missions nor parties to a conflict. Which wars and conflicts exist at the moment is collected on the page Current wars worldwide.

Peace does not begin in a ranking

Behind every position are people who settle disputes, connect neighbourhoods and build trust. That is exactly where W3ltfrieden starts: with peace missions that you can start or support yourself.

Find your peace mission