Enlist - Military service

     No armed forces      No conscription      Plan to abolish conscription within 3 years      Conscription      No information

Military service, in which citizens enlist in, in its simplest sense, is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft (conscription). Some nations require a specific amount of military service from each and every one of its citizens (except for special cases such as physical or mental disorders or religious beliefs). A nation with a fully volunteer military does not normally require mandatory military service from its citizens, unless it is faced with a recruitment crisis during a time of war.

No enforced conscription

Afghanistan Antigua and Barbuda Argentina Australia Bahamas Bahrain Bangladesh Barbados Belgium Bhutan Bosnia and Herzegovina Botswana Brunei Bulgaria Burma Cameroon Canada Chile Congo Croatia Czech Republic Djibouti Dominican Republic Ethiopia

Fiji France Gambia Ghana Haiti Honduras Hungary India Iraq Ireland Italy Japan Jordan Kenya Lebanon Lesotho Lithuania Liberia Luxembourg Macedonia Malawi Maldives Malta Morocco

Montenegro Namibia Nepal Netherlands Netherlands Antilles New Zealand Nicaragua Nigeria Oman Pakistan Papua New Guinea Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Romania Rwanda Saint Kitts and Nevis Saudi Arabia Seychelles Sierra Leone Slovakia Slovenia

South Africa Spain Sri Lanka Suriname Swaziland Tanzania Timor-Leste Tonga Trinidad and Tobago United Arab Emirates United Kingdom United States of America Yemen Zambia

Conscription only in special circumstances:

• Belize — conscription only if volunteers are insufficient; conscription has never been implemented
• Bolivia — when annual number of volunteers falls short of goal, compulsory recruitment is effected
• Jamaica — younger recruits may be conscripted with parental consent
• Uruguay — enlistment is voluntary in peacetime, but the government has the authority to conscript in emergencies

Military service limited to 1 year or less:

Austria (6 months) Bolivia (12 months) Brazil (9–12 months) Denmark (4–12 months) Ecuador (selective conscription) El Salvador (selective conscription) Estonia (8–11 months) Finland (6–12 months) Germany (9 months) Greece (9 months) Guatemala (12–24 months) Latvia

Mexico (selective conscription) Moldavia (12 months) Mongolia (12 months) Norway Paraguay (12 months for Army, 24 months for Navy) Russia (12 months) Serbia (6 months) Switzerland Taiwan (selective conscription) Tunisia (12 months) Ukraine (12 months) Uzbekistan (12 months)

Military service limited to 18 months

Azerbaijan Cambodia Colombia Cote d'Ivoire Eritrea

Georgia Iran Laos Madagascar Turkey (6–15 months)

Civilian, unarmed or non-combatant service option

Angola Algeria Austria (9 months civilian, 6 armed) Belarus Burkina Faso Cyprus Greece Denmark

Estonia Finland (12 months civilian, unarmed 330 days, armed 6, 9 or 12 months) Germany (9 months civilian, same as armed) Latvia Norway Serbia (9 months civilian) Sweden

Selective Conscription

Benin Cape Verde Central African Republic Chad China Guinea-Bissau Ecuador El Salvador

Indonesia Malaysia Mexico Niger Senegal Taiwan Togo

Both compulsory and voluntary military service

Bermuda Burundi Gabon Kuwait Mali

Mauritania Philippines Singapore Uganda Venezuela

Armed military service longer than 18 months, no unarmed option

Armenia Congo (Democratic Republic) Cuba Equatorial Guinea Egypt Guinea Israel Kazakhstan Kyrgyzstan Libya Mozambique

North Korea São Tomé and Príncipe Singapore (disregarding Civil Defence forces which is part of the Interior Ministry) Somalia South Korea Syria Sudan Tajikistan Thailand Turkmenistan Vietnam

Conscription to be abolished in the near future

• Albania
• Serbia
• Sweden
• Ukraine

References

1. Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Geneva, Switzerland, 1997, via Nationmaster: http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/mil_con-military-conscription
2. The CIA World Fact book — Military service age and obligation. https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/fields/2024.html
3. J. Jih. Dual Nationality, Conscription and Death Penalty. http://www.geocities.com/jusjih/dncdp.html
4. NATO and the Defence Reform Commission: partners for progress (SETimes.com)
5. Bulgaria's last conscripts - News news
6. Bulgaria Scraps the Draft (New York Times) - ExpatsBulgaria.com
7. Bulgaria to abolish compulsory military service as of 2008 (SETimes.com)
8. "Bulgarian military service reduced", BBC News, May 17, 2000. Retrieved 31 May 2006.
9. Vijesti.net - Hrvatska uvodi profesionalnu vojsku od 1. sijecnja 2008
10. Ministerstvo obrany - Stránka nebyla nalezena - Not Found
11. BBC NEWS | Europe | Last conscripts leave Czech army
12. BBC News | EUROPE | France salutes end of military service
13. Defence Forces Homepage
14. Law n. 772, 15 December 1972 [1] (Italian)
15. Law nr. 226, 23 August 2004 [2] (Italian)
16. Latvia: Refusing to Bear Arms 2005 revision
17. National Museum of Military History - DIEKIRCH, LUXEMBOURG
18. Macedonian Army phases out conscription (SETimes.com)
19. "The Islamization of Morocco", by Oliver Guitta, The Weekly Standard, October 2, 2006
20. http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=836
21. http://www.mdn.gov.pt/destaques/2004/fim_servico_militar.htm
22. Romania drops compulsory military service, United Press International, 23 October 2006
23. Literal
24. See an announcement by the Minister of Defence
25. http://www.child-soldiers.org/document_get.php?id=799
26. http://www.medicaldraft.info
27. Albanian Times
28. Wikipedia.org

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