The United States hasn’t had a military draft since 1973, but men between the ages of 18-25 are still required to register with the Selective Service to be called up in case of a national emergency. In some other countries, men and sometimes women are drafted for service even in peacetime. If you’re thinking of raising your family abroad, this is something you might want to keep in mind in choices you make about your children’s citizenship. 

Conscription Map

This map shows the status of conscription requirements around the world. Notice that most of the countries that actively enforce mandatory conscription are located in Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and East and Southeast Asia—all conflict-ridden areas on the periphery of Russia and China. Let’s zoom in now on some of these hot spots and see what the security concerns are of countries that have conscription.

East Africa

Eritrea

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: civil war in neighboring Ethiopia and Sudan

Tanzania

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: political unrest, terrorism

North Africa

Algeria

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: terrorism in the Sahel and tensions with Morocco

Chad

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: terrorist groups such as Boko Haram

Egypt

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: tensions with Israel, terrorism, threats to the Suez canal

Mali

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: intervention by France and regional countries to overthrow Mali’s military dictatorship.

Morocco

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: tensions with Algeria and other regional countries and terrorism in Western Sahara, a territory occupied by Morocco.

Niger

• Conscription: unmarried males and females
• Security concerns: under military rule and concerned about the possibility of intervention by France and some neighboring countries.

South Sudan

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: terrorism, political unrest, spillover of civil wars in neighboring Sudan and Ethiopia.

Sudan

• Conscription: male and female, but in practice women are not conscripted
• Security concerns: civil war, Russian mercenaries operating in the country.

Tunisia

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: terrorism, spillover from civil war in neighboring Libya.

Sub-Saharan Africa

Angola

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: regional instability, especially coming from the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Equatorial Guinea

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: civil unrest

Mozambique

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: civil unrest

West Africa

Benin

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: terrorism from extremist groups in neighboring Burkina Faso

Cabo Verde

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: maritime drug trade and human trafficking

Côte d’Ivoire

• Conscription: male and female, but not enforced
• Security concerns: terrorists based in the Sahel

Guinea

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: internal political dissent

Guinea-Bissau

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: internal political dissent

São Tomé and Príncipe

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: civil unrest, smuggling

Senegal

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: extremist groups operating in the Sahara and the Sahel.

The Caucasus

Armenia

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: territorial disputes with Azerbaijan.
  

Azerbaijan

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: territorial disputes with Armenia

Georgia

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: shares a border with Russia, which invaded and occupied some of its territory.

Europe

Austria

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: the possibility of the Ukraine war spilling over into neighboring countries in Eastern Europe.

Belarus

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: spillover from the war in neighboring Ukraine; Belarus is caught between NATO to the west and its ally Russia to the east.

Denmark

• Conscription: male only until 2026, then male and female. Alternative service is available.
• Security concerns: the potential for the war in Ukraine to draw in NATO. Threats by American President Trump to take control of the Danish territory of Greenland.

Finland

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: shares a long border with Russia and joined NATO recently to enhance its security.

Estonia

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: shares a border with Russia and fears invasion as tensions escalate in the Ukraine war

Greece

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: tensions with neighboring Turkey over Cyprus and other territorial disputes.

Latvia

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: concerns about the spread of the war in Ukraine and potential invasion by Russia.

Lithuania

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: the possibility of military attacks from Russia as the tensions in Ukraine increase.

Moldova

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: Russian troops present in the breakaway region of Transnistria, with potential to intervene in Moldova.

Norway

• Conscription: male and female, but not strictly enforced
• Security concerns: shares a border with Russia in the Arctic and shares mining rights with them in the Svalbard islands. Russian expansionism is a concern.

Russia

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: does not want to see NATO expanding into former Soviet territory, and would like to regain control of these territories itself.

Sweden

• Conscription: male and female, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: fear of Russian expansionism led Sweden to join the NATO alliance.

Switzerland

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: Switzerland has no threats to its territory besides the possibility of terrorism. Members of the Swiss military serve in peacekeeping and humanitarian roles around the world.

Ukraine

• Conscription: male. Military-aged men are prohibited from leaving the country during the war with Russia.
• Security concerns: has been fighting off a Russian invasion since 2014 that escalated dramatically in 2022. There are concerns that Russia will use nuclear weapons and that the United States may reduce or cut off aid to force Ukraine to surrender land for peace.

Latin America

Bolivia

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: internal political dissent

Brazil

• Conscription: male only, but in recent years volunteers have met the country’s needs without conscription.
• Security concerns: domestic security, disaster relief, tensions with neighboring Venezuela

Chile

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: organized crime, political dissent

Colombia

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: drug trafficking, guerrilla factions

Cuba

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: diplomatic, economic, and potential military threats from the US and its allies.

Guatemala 

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: drug trafficking, internal political dissent

Mexico

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: drug and human trafficking, illegal immigration, tensions with the United States including threats by President Trump to use the military in Mexico to attack drug cartels.

Paraguay

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: drug and human trafficking, internal political dissent

Venezuela

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: controlling domestic dissent and resisting diplomatic and possibly military pressure from the United States and its allies.

East Asia

Mongolia

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: wedged between Russia and China with the potential for either country to intervene.

North Korea

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: having made the United States, South Korea, and Japan into implacable enemies, North Korea is concerned about the possibility of invasion, nuclear attack, or special operations to try to remove the leadership.

South Korea

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: South Korea’s capital is in range of thousands of North Korean artillery pieces and would be destroyed in a war. South Korea fears the withdrawal of US support, which is really the only thing that prevents North Korea from invading with overwhelming numbers.

Taiwan

• Conscription: male, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: China is going through a massive military buildup and wants to take control of Taiwan. American support has been ambiguous and it is not 100% clear whether the US would come to their aid if war broke out.

Southeast Asia

Cambodia

• Conscription: male only
• Security concerns: tensions with Vietnam and Thailand, made worse because Cambodia aligns itself diplomatically with China

Laos

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: internal dissent, potential regional conflict involving neighboring China and Vietnam.

Myanmar

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: the country has been in civil war many years and has a great deal of internal dissent. Western powers oppose the government for its human rights abuses.

Singapore

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: this wealthy city-state is located on one of the busiest naval trade routes in the world. This makes it strategically important to aggressive countries like China.

Thailand

• Conscription: male, with plans to abolish conscription in 2027
• Security concerns: spillover from unrest in neighboring Myanmar.

Timor-Leste

• Conscription: male and female
• Security concerns: civil unrest, the possibility of intervention by Indonesia in the event of a crisis.

Vietnam

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: territorial disputes with China and Cambodia

Middle East

Cyprus

• Conscription: male only, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: tensions between Turkish and Greek Cypriots and the potential for military intervention by Turkey.

Iran

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: rivalry with Saudi Arabia, Israel, and the United States, with the potential for military attacks to stop the Iranian nuclear program

Israel

• Conscription: male and female Jews, male Druze and Circassians
• Security concerns: terrorism, unrest in occupied territories, the Iranian nuclear program, which could lead to a nuclear attack on Israel in the future.

Jordan

• Conscription: only for unemployed males
• Security concerns: terrorism, tensions with neighboring Israel due to Israel’s policies in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Kuwait

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: terrorism or military threats from Iran.

Qatar

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: terrorism or military threats from Iran.

Turkey

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: territorial disputes with Greece and Cyprus, spillover from civil war in neighboring Syria, water disputes with Syria and Iraq, Russian expansionism, unrest in neighboring Caucasus countries.

United Arab Emirates

• Conscription: for males 18-30 years old, but alternative service is available
• Security concerns: terrorism or military threats from Iran.

Central Asia

Kazakhstan

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: internal dissent, the possibility of Islamic extremism, and potential interference by neighboring Russia and China.

Kyrgyzstan

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: potential terrorism, extremism, internal dissent, and potential threats from neighboring China.

Tajikistan

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: potential terrorism, extremism, internal dissent, and potential threats from neighboring China or Afghanistan.

Turkmenistan

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: potential terrorism and internal dissent, interference from Iran or Russia, spillover of conflict from Afghanistan.

Uzbekistan

• Conscription: male
• Security concerns: potential terrorism and internal dissent, interference from Russia.

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