Sweden

Previous reports: 2023/24

As reported by EBCO's Swedish member, the Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society:²

In 2024, discussion about military conscription increased in the media. This was mainly because of Sweden joining NATO and how this would affect military service and obligations for missions abroad. For the first time, the military began calling people who had declared no motivation or positive attitude towards serving. Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (SPAS) has been a strong voice in the debate and received significantly more questions about conscription and weapon-free status than previous years. These trends and statistics are further elaborated below.

The conscription law remains the same. Citizens turning 18 are obliged to provide the Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket) with information as well as enlist and undergo military training if called to do so.³ In 2024, 7,426 individuals enrolled for military service, which is an increase of 114 individuals compared to the previous year. Out of the 7,426 individuals, 87% were called up in accordance with the conscription law, while 13% applied for enrollment themselves.⁴ Of the total of 106,990 18 year-olds who responded to the 2024 enlistment document, 38,763 were eligible and could be called up (35%).⁵

According to the Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency, 100 conscripts have been reported to the prosecutor's office for breaking the general law of compulsory military service in 2024.⁶ The reason for this was invalid absence when they were called to enlist, i.e. military selection tryouts.⁷

Those who receive weapon free status can be called for civil conscription, meaning that they can be placed within the civil defence. The civil conscription has not been active since 2010, but as of 21 December 2023, the government decided to activate civil service obligations for municipal emergency services and to the electricity supply sector. During 2024, 300 individuals (for example within the emergency services), received training. MSB plans to initiate civil defence duty training for around 1,000 people within the rescue service during 2025. In addition, more people are expected to be targets for investigation prior to mandatory enrollment and initiating training by MSB. Svenska kraftnät is now responsible for enrollment within the electricity supply sector, which is now activated for civil duty. The government aims to initiate training for a total of 3,000 individuals “within a few years”⁹ and is open to the possibility that youth may be selected for civilian duty within the civil defence after mustering.¹⁰ The government allocated a total of 60 million Swedish SEK for civil service obligations in 2024.¹¹

Around 30,000 individuals born in 2007 will be summoned to muster 2025 and the number of youths called for conscription will increase to 8,500 by 2026.¹² However, there is political consensus that this is not enough as both the previous and current government have expressed that more youths should be prepared to do military service. For example, the government has argued that the number called for conscription each year should increase to 10,000 individuals,¹³ and possibly to 12,000 individuals after that.¹⁴ As the enrollment volumes increase, relying solely on those who have expressed a positive attitude towards undergoing military training with conscription will no longer be sufficient to meet the demand. This implies that in the future, an increasing number of individuals who may not be motivated to serve will need to be called for conscription. A selection process is conducted to identify individuals with the best prerequisites for completing basic training with conscription. Those individuals who are deemed to have the optimal conditions will be called. Therefore, the Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency will give less consideration to the individual's will and motivation in order to meet the demand.¹⁵ 2024 stands out as the first year, since the conscription law was reinforced in 2017, that youths were called to enlist against their will. This regards individuals who answered that they are negative towards doing military service, but in other ways meet the demands. Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (SPAS) continues to take this very seriously and stands up for the right to refuse participation in the military system. Media reported in the beginning of 2024, that the number of youths being forced to enlist is increasing.¹⁶ In 2024, 6,139 youth were called to enlist against their will¹⁷ and considering the expected increase of individuals summoned to enlist, this trend is expected to continue.¹⁸

Sweden became a member of NATO on 7 March 2024, which raises new questions about conscription, and if and how conscripts can be used for military operations outside of Sweden in the future. Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society investigated the issue in a report, launched in January 2024, and concludes that conscripts could be affected by NATO membership and be sent abroad for three reasons:

1. To a greater extent participate in exercises and training within the framework of military cooperation (which the current law already allows for);

2. To participate in NATO troop deployments for the purpose of guarding NATO territory in peacetime and thus be a part of NATO's deterrence strategy; and

3. To fight for NATO in a war situation when and if article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is invoked.

Currently, the law states that conscripts are to be used to defend Sweden. There are uncertainties as to whether it is possible to force people to participate in military operations abroad on behalf of NATO within the current legislation. Based on the investigation, it seems that conscripts will be used if article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty is invoked as the Swedish military units within the armed forces rely on conscripts.¹⁹

The fact that those who have already enlisted or been deployed have not been able to consider the risk of being sent abroad on behalf of NATO at the time of enlistment/conscription raises questions about the democratic basis and transparency of the process. Investigations also indicate that youth are less motivated to defend NATO countries compared to defending Sweden. In an investigation completed by the Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency, 57 percent of the youth asked were willing to defend Sweden but only 37 percent were willing to militarily defend NATO.²⁰ It becomes evident that there is a pressing need for broader public debate surrounding the implications of sending conscripts abroad within the NATO framework.²¹ SPAS is pushing for such a debate and demands that it should be stated that no one can be sent abroad to participate in NATO missions against their will.

1. Population and armed forces figures are derived from The Military Balance 2025, published by the international Institute for Strategic Studies; military expenditure figures are estimates published by SIPRI (The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in April 2025. ⤴
2. More info about the organisation at: https://www.svenskafreds.se/⤴
3. The law of conscription, Lagen (1994:1809) om totalförsvarsplikt. https://rkrattsbaser.gov.se/sfst?bet=1994:1809⤴
4. The Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), Press releasehttps://via.tt.se/pressmeddelande/3389399/sa-har-manga-inskrivna-till-varnplikt-kommer-fran-din-kommun?publisherId=3235997⤴
5. The Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), Mönstring och prövning till grundutbildning med värnplikt 2006, Ö2024/4524:3⤴
6. Ibid.⤴
7. The Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), E-mail contact.⤴
8. Ibid.⤴
9. Dagens Nyheter, news article, 2025. “Regeringen vill utöka civilplikten”: https://www.dn.se/direkt/2025-01-13/regeringen-vill-utoka-civilplikten/⤴
10. Omni news article, 2025. “Fler ska bli civilpliktiga: ”Det krävs ett större vi”: https://omni.se/fler-ska-bli-civilpliktiga-det-kravs-ett-storre-vi/a/25JQRa⤴
11. The Ministry of Defence, Press releasehttps://www.regeringen.se/pressmeddelanden/2023/12/regeringen-aktiverar-delar-av-civilplikten/⤴
12. Radio Sweden, 2025. “Alla platser kommer att fyllas”: https://www.sverigesradio.se/artikel/pliktverket-alla-platser-kommer-fyllas⤴
13. SVT, Newspaper, 2022. “Regeringen vill att fler gör lumpen”: https://www.svt.se/nyheter/inrikes/regeringen-vill-att-fler-gor-lumpen-kan-bli-10-000-varnpliktiga-om-aret⤴
14. The Swedish Government. Prop. 2024/25:34 Totalförsvaret 2025-2030:https://www.regeringen.se/contentassets/5c98b885c2cc40d58aa3693d34d915d3/totalforsvaret-20252030-prop.-20242534.pdf⤴
15. The Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), Mönstring och prövning till grundutbildning med värnplikt 2006, Ö2024/4524:3⤴
16. Radio Sweden, 2024. “Tusentals ungdomar tvingas mönstra mon sin vilja” https://sverigesradio.se/artikel/fler-kommer-att-tvingas-monstra-mot-sin-vilja⤴
17. The Swedish Defence Recruitment Agency (Plikt- och prövningsverket), Mönstring och prövning till grundutbildning med värnplikt 2006, Ö2024/4524:3⤴
18. Ibid.⤴
19. The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Svenska Freds- och Skiljedomsföreningen), NATO reporthttps://www.svenskafreds.se/app/uploads/2023/10/sverige-i-nato-del-1-1.pdf⤴
20. Omni news article, 2025. “Svalt intresse bland unga att strida för Natoländer”: https://omni.se/sval-installning-till-strid-for-natolander-bland-unga/a/xmymKn⤴
21. The Swedish Peace and Arbitration Society (Svenska Freds- och Skiljedomsföreningen), NATO reporthttps://www.svenskafreds.se/app/uploads/2023/10/sverige-i-nato-del-1-1.pdf⤴