3 December 2025

Europe’s race back to the draft

As military conscription returns to the continent, Europe is preparing for a future of warfare it thought it had left behind.

The ongoing war in Ukraine, which began after Russia invaded its neighbor in 2022, has made it clear that modern war is a numbers game, and Europe, in its current shape, does not have the reserves to win.

Governments are now scrambling for the fastest, cheapest way to increase their military manpower and adapt to a world in which deterrence is increasingly dependent on how many soldiers you can actually field.

As defence budgets swell, governments are quietly rebuilding the human backbone of their militaries. It’s not just about guns and tanks. In 2024, EU member states collectively spent a record €343 billion on defence (1.9% of GDP), and much of that went to personnel and readiness.

Conscription is quickly becoming Europe’s emergency backup plan.

Keeping tabs

NATO currently has 3.44 million military personnel, according to the latest data. But if you take the US out of the equation, the Western military alliance is left with roughly 2.11 million active troops, only 1.5 million of which belong to EU countries.

However, those topline numbers overlook a critical piece of the defence puzzle: the reserves. These are civilians who serve part-time, outside the regular ranks, but can be called in when governments need a rapid manpower boost. It’s a system that keeps peacetime defense costs low while preserving a trained force that can be mobilized fast if conflict looms.

Major Western armies have the bulk of Europe’s professional active soldiers, but it’s eastern-flank states – including Poland – that carry the heaviest reserve weight.

Estonia fields just 7,100 active troops but can call up more than 41,000 reservists. Finland has a professional core of 23,000 that can balloon to 280,000 in wartime.

Baltic States and Eastern countries have leaned on conscription for years. That only increased after Russia’s assault on Ukraine reset Europe’s threat assessment. Estonia is a prime example, having maintained compulsory service since regaining independence from the Soviet Union in 1991.

Nine draft systems, one strategic logic

Across the bloc, 9 EU countries have mandatory military service: Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Greece, Latvia, Lithuania, and Sweden.

France and Germany have recently followed suit in a bid to bulk up their reserves without reverting to full-blown conscription. Paris has moved to roll out a 10-month voluntary national service programme by 2026, and Berlin is openly weighing a return to mandatory service, after years of ruling it out.

The models, however, are anything but uniform.

In the Nordics, Sweden and Norway use selective, gender-neutral drafts. They screen entire age groups but call up only the numbers they need, roughly 6,000-8,000 people a year, to avoid draining reserves. Denmark relies on a hybrid lottery. Militarily neutral Austria maintains traditional male conscription but provides conscripts with the option to participate in civilian volunteer activities instead of traditional military ones.

The Baltics see conscription as existential. Lithuania revived the draft in 2015 and now pulls in about 3,900 recruits a year to keep mobilisation plans credible, while Latvia also has a selective lottery.

Greece, meanwhile, still has one of Europe’s longest drafts, 9 to 12 months, in large part due to long-standing regional tensions with Turkey.

Perks of the job

The benefits behind conscription are as varied as the systems themselves. Across the EU, ministries often pair mandatory service with allowances, housing, meals, healthcare, transport, and, in some cases, education or loan support.

Finland, for example, ties its conscript benefits directly into its social-insurance system, ensuring young people don’t pay a financial penalty for serving. Austria offers structured stipends and full logistical support for both military and civilian service.

Conscription’s real payoff comes later: a short stint in uniform produces citizens who can be mobilized for decades, giving governments a deep, low-cost reserve that professional armies simply can’t replicate.