Compulsory military service: where it is still there and where it isn’t
What is the situation of the military service in the world? If 50 years ago most countries had a compulsory military service, with the end of the Cold War this situation has changed. For example, Great Britain abolished military service in 1957 and since then many European countries have followed suit.
However, as Katharina Buchholz of Statista explains, many countries around the world still apply compulsory military service or a partial form of it. Let's analyze it with this graph by Statista.
This practice is controversial for many reasons, including religiously motivated opposition or conscientious objection to military engagements.
Many democracies still have some form of compulsory military service, but a good number of them no longer enforce the rules fully, resulting in a limited conscription practice in which only a minority of those subject to the law are actually drafted . In these cases, exceptions are generously granted and/or large numbers of men and women of military age are rejected as unfit on general grounds. In many countries, draft avoidance through bribes and favors is a possibility that reduces effective enlistment.
Fewer than 30 countries require entire age cohorts to complete military service. These include Cuba and Colombia in Latin America, Angola, Eritrea and South Sudan in Africa, as well as Finland, Austria and Switzerland in Europe (where substitute civil service programs exist). Military service for all is more common in the Middle East. Israel, where both men and women enlist in the military without many exceptions for two or three years, is a well-known example of this practice.
In Asia, Vietnam, Laos, North and South Korea and Taiwan still require universal military service.
While South Korea has regularly hit the headlines for the (albeit postponed) draft of Kpop stars, Taiwan recently announced plans to extend compulsory military service to one year, in light of tensions with China.
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The article Compulsory military service: where it still exists and where it doesn't comes from Scenari Economici .
This is a machine translation of a post published on Scenari Economici at the URL https://scenarieconomici.it/servizio-militare-obbligatorio-dove-ce-ancora-e-dove-no/ on Sun, 15 Jan 2023 20:13:56 +0000.