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Previous reports: 2024 | 2023/24




Conscription currently imposed? No

Conscription imposed 1916-1919 and again from 1939. Abolished 1960.

Last conscripts demobilised 1963.
Conscientious objection first recognised 1916 Military Service Act, 27th January.
CO release of professional soldiers Yes

Regulations within each of the service branches cover the handling of applications for release.

An “independent” Advisory Committee on Conscientious Objection is the ultimate appeal tribunal, but has met only once this century and upheld the military decision.
Minimum recruitment age 16 For voluntary service
Military expenditure1
$ (% change from 2024) Per capita % of GDP
88,978m (-2.0%) $1,283 2.4%

Asylum for conscientious objectors

Asylum guidance regarding Ukraine says that “there is no provision in international law which requires States to recognise the right to conscientious objection or to provide some form of alternative service”; punishment of conscientious objectors in Ukraine is therefore not recognized in the UK as persecution giving grounds for asylum2

  1. Military expenditure figures are estimates published by SIPRI (The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in April 2026.↩︎
  2. https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/ukraine-country-policy-and-information-notes/country-policy-and-information-note-military-service-ukraine-june-2022-accessible (p. 3.5.4)↩︎

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