Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
Swiss Armed Forces have around 147,000 personnel
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Number of Swiss armed forces exceeds specified limit
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%.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Schweizer Armee weist einen Bestand von rund 147’000 Personen aus
Original
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.
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
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Most Read Swiss Abroad
More
Why cars still reign supreme in ‘rail-nation’ Switzerland
Swiss price watchdog slams excessive prices for generic medicines
This content was published on
The cheapest generic medicines available in Switzerland are more than twice as expensive as in other countries, according to a study by the Swiss price watchdog.
Nature should not figure in net zero calculations: academic study
This content was published on
The natural removal of CO2 from the atmosphere by forests or oceans should not be included in the net-zero balance of climate protection measures, argue researchers.
This content was published on
None of the 15 major Swiss retail banks is meeting international climate and biodiversity targets, according to a ranking by WWF Switzerland.
This content was published on
Nestlé's new CEO Laurent Freixe, has presented plans for the future of the world's largest food company, after his first few weeks in office.
Swiss foreign minister calls on Moscow to end Ukraine war
This content was published on
It's high time Moscow ended its war against Ukraine, Swiss foreign minister Ignazio Cassis tells the UN Security Council.
This content was published on
The only alternative to the UN Palestinian agency’s work in Gaza is to allow Israel to run services there, Philippe Lazzarini, UNRWA Commissioner-General, told reporters in Geneva on Monday.
Study reveals food culture differences between Switzerland and neighbours
This content was published on
Three-quarters of Swiss people consider eating to be a pleasurable, social activity, a new survey reveals. Healthy eating, however, plays a much less important role, it found.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.