Sweden

Previous reports: 2024 | 2023/24

Based on the reply of the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society to EBCO’s questionnaire:²

Developments

In December 2025, the Swedish government announced that civil duty will be broadened to include services within surveillance, electronic communications, network and information systems as well as cyber security. The previous system was limited to a small number of placements within municipal emergency services and the electricity supply sector.

This further implies that from 2026 and on, Swedish citizens are obliged to complete a longer basic education within the civil defence, in a similar way to military service.³

According to the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society, an increasing number of young people contacting the organisation in recent years have displayed signs of mental illness, with several describing strong discomfort related to practising shooting at human-like targets and some stating that they have lost hope, no longer feel joy or have lost their will to live. Many are not aware of their right to obtain weapon-free status or that mental illness may entitle them to interrupt their military service.

An investigative documentary released in 2025 covered a case of 2023 of the suicide of a young woman five months into conscription. Findings pointed at anxiety and mental illness caused by her time in military service and fear of imprisonment if she did not complete her service.⁴ This increased prominence of critical perspectives in the public debate around conscription.

Conscription provisions and procedures

Conscription legislation remains the same. Citizens turning 18 are obliged to provide the Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket) with information as well as muster and undergo military training if called to do so.⁵

In 2025, 8,251 individuals were enrolled for military service, which is 825 more than the previous year. Out of those, 7,258 (88%) were called in accordance with the conscription law, while 992 (12%) applied for enrollment themselves. Of the total of 110,740 18 year olds who received the enlistment document, 98% responded. 28,184 were eligible and could be summoned to muster.⁶ Of those who responded, 60,866 answered negatively regarding their interest and motivation to undergo military training (1-3 on a motivation scale up to 9).⁷ That means that more than half (55%) of the 18 year olds do not want to enlist. Women generally have a less positive attitude towards doing military service than men. In 2025, it was concluded that 7 out 10 women did not want to do military service, while 4 out of 10 men were negative towards enlisting.⁸

According to the Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency, 98 conscripts have been reported to the prosecutor’s office for breaking the general law of compulsory military service in 2025. Among those, 93 were reported due to absence when they were called to muster, i.e. military selection tryouts, and 5 due to interrupted military service without permission (including not showing up, intentional deviation and refusal).⁹ 601 people interrupted their military training in 2025, mostly due to health reasons.¹⁰

Conscientious objection provisions and procedures

Those who receive weapon free status can be called for civil conscription, meaning that they can be placed within the civil defence.

Application statistics

The Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency reports that 113 conscripts applied for weapon free status in 2025, compared to 145 in previous year. 107 out of 113 applications were approved and 5 were rejected. One application was dismissed.¹¹

There is no clear conclusion to draw from reading the applications that were rejected. Some referenced a religious conviction, some a sense of fear of weapons. Others expressed a decrease in mental health, with suicidal thoughts. Compared to the applications that were approved (of which we were allowed to examine ten), the ones who were denied generally had shorter answers. But considering the small sample of approved applications there is no certain conclusion to be drawn. However, applications written thoroughly with detailed examples are in general more likely to be approved. It is also clear that in order to get the application approved, the applicant needs to explain that there are no situations in which the applicant could ever use armed violence.

There is currently no actual weapon-free service, but those who receive weapon-free status can be called for civil conscription further on to be placed within the civil defence. Civil conscription was activated on December 21 2023, after being deactivated since 2010. Civil duty does not, however, necessarily mean being free from handling weapons. In 2024 and 2025, civil conscription placements were limited to a small number within municipal emergency services and to the electricity supply sector but the system will be expanded into more sectors (see Developments).

1. Military expenditure figures are estimates published by SIPRI (The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in April 2026.↩︎
2. More info about the organisation at: https://www.svenskafreds.se/↩︎
3. The Swedish Government: https://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2025/12/regeringen-breddar-civilplikten/↩︎
4. https://www.sverigesradio.se/avsnitt/almas-dod-i-lumpen↩︎
5. The law of conscription, Lagen (1994:1809) om totalförsvarsplikt. https://rkrattsbaser.gov.se/sfst?bet=1994:1809↩︎
6. The Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket) https://www.pliktverket.se/om-myndigheten/kontakt/press#/embedded/release/4101317/8-251-personer-inskrivna-till-grundutbildning-2025?publisherId=3235997&lang=sv↩︎
7. The Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), E-mail contact↩︎
8. https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/majoritet-av-unga-kvinnor-vill-inte-gora-varnplikten↩︎
9. The Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), E-mail contact↩︎
10. The Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), E-mail contact↩︎
11. The Swedish Defense Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), E-mail contact↩︎