Denmark Military - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Royal Danish Army, Royal Danish Navy, Royal Danish Air Force, Danish Home Guard (Reserves) (2021)

note: the Danish military also maintains a Joint Arctic Command

Military expenditures

1.43% of GDP (2020 est.)

1.3% of GDP (2019)

1.28% of GDP (2018)

1.14% of GDP (2017)

1.15% of GDP (2016)

Military and security service personnel strengths

the Danish military has approximately 16,000 active duty personnel (8,000 Army; 3,000 Navy; 3,000 Air Force; 2,000 other) (2021)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the Danish military inventory is comprised of a mix of modern European, US, and domestically-produced equipment; the US is the largest supplier of military equipment to Denmark since 2010, followed by Germany and the Netherlands; the Danish defense industry is active in the production of naval vessels, defense electronics, and subcomponents of larger weapons systems, such as the US F-35 fighter aircraft (2020)

Military deployments

140 Middle East/Iraq (NATO/Operation Inherent Resolve) (2021)

Military service age and obligation

18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service; conscripts serve an initial training period that varies from 4 to 12 months depending on specialization; former conscripts are assigned to mobilization units; women eligible to volunteer for military service; in addition to full time employment, the Danish Military offers reserve contracts in all three branches (2019)

Military - note

Denmark is a member of NATO and was one of the original 12 countries to sign the North Atlantic Treaty (also known as the Washington Treaty) in 1949

in 2018, the Defense Ministers of Belgium, Denmark and the Netherlands signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) for the creation of a Composite Special Operations Component Command (C-SOCC); the C-SOCC was declared operational in December 2020

NOTE: The information regarding Denmark on this page is re-published from the 2021 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Denmark 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Denmark 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.