An official report on the state of the German military painted a grim picture on Tuesday, with a whopping 28% of positions among the lower enlisted ranks unfilled as of the end of 2024.
The numbers were slightly better at higher service tiers, but the Bundeswehr was still missing nearly 20% of the required commissioned officers, the document said.
“At the same time, the Bundeswehr keeps growing older,” Defense Commissioner Eva Högl said. “While the average age was 32.4 years at the end of 2019, it grew to 34 years by the end of 2024.”
Bundeswehr could not handle reviving conscription
There are currently 181,000 troops in Germany’s armed forces. But the country is in the middle of a push to massively upgrade and expand its military, including increasing the number of soldiers. Some have called for restoring the general conscription for males which was suspended in 2011.
But Commissioner Högl said simply reviving this system was “not a good idea.”
“This would be too much for the Bundeswehr to handle,” she told reporters while presenting her report in Berlin, noting that there were currently not enough available facilities and instructors.
Germany considers boosting defense spending
What did Högl propose?
The old conscription system was managed by over 50 military district offices, which have since been closed.
In her report, Högl pointed out that there was now “no longer a comprehensive picture” of which age groups were “subject to compulsory military service and their willingness and ability to perform.”
Högl instead called for a new and improved conscription system to be considered by the incoming parliament. Under Högl’s vision, both young men and women would be obligated to do a “social year” — for some this would mean being a soldier, while others would serve in a different way, such as disaster relief.
Merz says ‘whatever it takes’ is the new defense mantra
Germany has launched a large-scale rearmament effort since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. In recent months, Berlin’s shift in defense policy has grown more urgent amid chaotic signals coming from Germany’s most important ally, the US.
The conservative CDU/CSU bloc and the left-leaning SPD, who are expected to form Germany’s next government, are now pushing a fiscal reform that would drastically increase spending on infrastructure and defense.
“Given the threat to our freedom and to peace on our continent, the mantra for our defense has to be: whatever it takes,” according to CDU leader Friedrich Merz, the man most likely to become Germany’s next chancellor.
Germany’s armed forces revamp stalls
On Tuesday, Högl said that “a lot has been improved and a lot has been achieved” since the initial shift in 2022, but stressed that many challenges remain.
“I can say again this year that the Bundeswehr still has too little of everything.”
Edited by: Natalie Muller