Denmark has launched a plan to strengthen the army and defense which envisages including women in compulsory military service, already existing for men, and increasing the time of service from the current four months to eleven months for both sexes, from of 2026. The plan presented by the Danish Government projects an increase in defense spending of more than 40,500 million Danish kroner (5,530 million euros) between 2024 and 2028.
“We do not rearm because we want war, destruction or suffering; we rearm to avoid war in a world where the international order is challenged,” Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen said at Wednesday’s press conference in Copenhagen, indirectly alluding to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine .
Regarding female recruitment, the social democrat Frederiksen pointed out that her coalition Government – which includes centre-right parties – wants “full equality between the sexes”.
Denmark currently has around 9,000 professional soldiers, in addition to 4,700 conscripts, who receive basic military training. Not all men of conscription age (18 years) are called to the ranks; there are those selected by lottery, as will also be the case with the women. The Executive wants to raise the number of recruits to 5,000.
Currently, women can already do military service, and in 2023 they represented 25.1% of the renewal, according to official figures. In any case, both of them can – in their case, they will be able when the time comes – to plead conscientious objection and provide civil service.
In this way, Denmark will become the third European country – and also the third Nordic country – with compulsory female recruitment. In 2017, neighboring Sweden reinstated compulsory military service for both men and women after abolishing it in 2010, when it was for men only, because there were enough volunteers to cover the country’s military needs. Norway introduced compulsory military service for both sexes in 2013.
The Danish rearmament follows the fact that the security policy situation in Europe “has become increasingly serious and this must be taken into account when analyzing future defence”, said Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen, from the agrarian conservative party Venstre, at the same press conference. The head of Foreign Affairs, Lars Løkke Rasmussen, of the Moderates party, added that the measures are taken as a form of deterrence. “Russia does not represent a threat to Denmark – said Rasmussen – but we will not put ourselves in a position where they can become one”.
The new budget that has been presented implies that Denmark will allocate 2.4% of GDP to defense this year and next, including the military aid it sends to Ukraine; while from 2026 it will be 2%, no longer including donations, explained Prime Minister Frederiksen. It will also invest in anti-aircraft defense systems and a heavy infantry brigade of 6,000 soldiers by 2028. “Denmark should not be a country protected by others, and it is not unreasonable to expect or demand that all allies fulfill the promise that we have done to each other,” said Mette Frederiksen, referring to the minimum 2% of annual GDP investment in defense that NATO requires of member countries.
Denmark, in addition to the announced military expenditure of 5,530 million euros, foresees another additional amount of 14,300 million kroner (1,918 million euros) for the period 2026-2033, which the Government hopes to obtain from reforms internal measures to improve efficiency within the Ministry of Defense itself.
