Greece Military - 2021

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Hellenic Armed Forces: Hellenic Army (Ellinikos Stratos, ES; includes National Guard reserves), Hellenic Navy (Elliniko Polemiko Navtiko, EPN), Hellenic Air Force (Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia, EPA; includes air defense) (2021)

Military expenditures

2.68% of GDP (2020 est.)

2.36% of GDP (2019)

2.54% of GDP (2018)

2.38% of GDP (2017)

2.4% of GDP (2016)

Military and security service personnel strengths

the Hellenic Armed Forces have approximately 130,000 active duty personnel (90,000 Army; 15,000 Navy; 25,000 Air Force); approximately 35,000 National Guard (2020)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the inventory of the Hellenic Armed Forces consists mostly of a mix of imported weapons from Europe and the US, as well as a limited number of domestically produced systems, particularly naval vessels; Germany is the leading supplier of weapons systems to Greece since 2010, followed by France and the US; Greece's defense industry is capable of producing naval vessels and associated subsystems (2020)

Military deployments

approximately 1,000 Cyprus; 110 Kosovo (NATO); 150 Lebanon (UNIFIL) (Jan 2021)

Military service age and obligation

19-45 years of age for compulsory military service; during wartime the law allows for recruitment beginning January of the year of inductee's 18th birthday, thus including 17 year olds; 18 years of age for volunteers; conscript service obligation is 1 year for the Army and 9 months for the Air Force and Navy; women are eligible for voluntary military service (2019)

Military - note

Greece joined NATO in 1952

NOTE: The information regarding Greece 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 Greece 2021 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Greece 2021 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.