Niger Military - 2022

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Nigerien Armed Forces (Forces Armees Nigeriennes, FAN): Army, Nigerien Air Force, Niger Gendarmerie (GN); Ministry of Interior: Niger National Guard (GNN), National Police (2022)

note 1: the Gendarmerie has primary responsibility for rural security; the National Guard is responsible for domestic security and the protection of high-level officials and government buildings

note 2: the National Police includes the Directorate of Territorial Surveillance, which is charged with border management

note 3: the National Guard was formerly known as the National Forces of Intervention and Security 

Military expenditures

1.8% of GDP (2021 est.)

2% of GDP (2020 est.)

1.7% of GDP (2019 est.) (approximately $260 million)

1.9% of GDP (2018 est.) (approximately $270 million)

2% of GDP (2017 est.) (approximately $270 million)

Military and security service personnel strengths

information varies; approximately 12,000 active FAN troops (8,000 Army; 200 Air Force; 4,000 Gendarmerie); approximately 3,000 National Guard (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the FAN's inventory consists of a wide variety of older weapons; since 2010, the FAN has received small amounts of mostly second-hand equipment and donations from several countries with the US as the top provider (2022)

Military service age and obligation

has conscription, although it is reportedly not always enforced; 18 is the legal minimum age for compulsory or voluntary military service; enlistees must be Nigerien citizens and unmarried; 2-year service term; women may serve in health care (2022)

Military deployments

875 Mali (MINUSMA) (May 2022)

note 1: Niger is part of a four (formerly five)-nation anti-jihadist task force known as the G5 (now G4) Sahel Group, set up in 2014 with Burkina Faso, Chad, Mali (withdrew in 2022), and Mauritania; it has committed 1,100 troops and 200 gendarmes to the force; as of 2022, defense forces from each of the participating states were allowed to pursue terrorist fighters up to 100 km into neighboring countries; the force is backed by France, the UN, and the US

note 2: Niger also has about 1,000 troops committed to the Multinational Joint Task Force (MNJTF) against Boko Haram and other terrorist groups operating in the general area of the Lake Chad Basin and along Nigeria's northeast border; national MNJTF troop contingents are deployed within their own country territories, although cross‐border operations are conducted periodically

Military - note

as of 2022, the FAN was conducting counterinsurgency and counterterrorism operations against Islamic militants on at least two fronts; in the Diffa region, the Nigeria-based Boko Haram terrorist group has conducted dozens of attacks on security forces, army bases, and civilians; on Niger’s western border with Mali, the Islamic State of Iraq and ash-Sham-West Africa (ISIS-WA) has conducted numerous attacks on security personnel; a series of ISIS-WA attacks on FAN forces near the Malian border in December of 2019 and January of 2020 resulted in the deaths of more than 170 soldiers; terrorist attacks continued into 2022 (2022)

NOTE: The information regarding Niger on this page is re-published from the 2022 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Niger 2022 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Niger 2022 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.