Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit

Swiss Armed Forces have around 147,000 personnel Keystone-SDA

The Swiss armed forces had an effective headcount of around 147,000 as of March 1, 2024. This exceeds the upper limit of 140,000 specified in the army organisation by 5%.

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The 147,000 members of the armed forces are divided into around 104,200 who still have to perform training service (70.9%) and around 42,800 who have already fulfilled their training service obligation (29.1%). Compared to 2023, the actual number has decreased by 204 people, the defence ministry said on Friday.

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The decrease can be explained by the fact that the duration of deployment was shortened to ten years with the further development of the armed forces in 2018.

However, in order to secure numbers during the transition phase, soldiers and non-commissioned officers who completed their recruit school before 2018 will remain in the army for 12 years, according to the defence ministry.

Translated from German by DeepL/ts

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