Switzerland Military - 2023

GEOGRAPHICAL NAMES 

Military and security forces

Swiss Armed Forces: Land Forces, Swiss Air Force (Schweizer Luftwaffe) (2023)

Military expenditures

0.7% of GDP (2021 est.)

0.8% of GDP (2020)

0.7% of GDP (2019)

0.7% of GDP (2018)

0.7% of GDP (2017)

Military and security service personnel strengths

the Swiss Armed Forces maintain a full-time professional cadre of about 4,000 personnel along with approximately 18-20,000 conscripts brought in annually for 18-23 weeks of training; approximately 120,000 reserve forces (2022)

Military equipment inventories and acquisitions

the military's inventory includes a mix of domestically produced and imported weapons systems; in recent years, the US has been the leading supplier of military armaments to Switzerland; the Swiss defense industry produces a range of military land vehicles (2023)

Military service age and obligation

18-30 years of age for compulsory military service for men; 18 years of age for voluntary military service; women may volunteer; every Swiss male has to serve at least 245 days in the armed forces; conscripts receive 18 weeks of mandatory training, followed by six 19-day intermittent recalls for training during the next 10 years (2023)

note: conscientious objectors can choose 390 days of community service instead of military service

Military deployments

up to 165 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR) (2023)

Military - note

Switzerland has long maintained a policy of military neutrality but does periodically participate in EU, NATO, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), and UN military and peacekeeping operations; however, Swiss units will only participate in operations under the mandate of the UN or OSCE; Switzerland joined NATO’s Partnership for Peace program in 1996; it contributed to the NATO-led Kosovo force (KFOR) in 1999 and as of 2023, continued doing so with up to 165 personnel; Switzerland also provided a small number of staff officers to the NATO mission in Afghanistan from 2004-2007

(2023)

NOTE: The information regarding Switzerland on this page is re-published from the 2023 World Fact Book of the United States Central Intelligence Agency and other sources. No claims are made regarding the accuracy of Switzerland 2023 information contained here. All suggestions for corrections of any errors about Switzerland 2023 should be addressed to the CIA or the source cited on each page.