Conscription in Sweden

Sweden had mandatory military service (värnplikt) for men between 1901 and 2010. Peace-time conscription was mothballed in 2010, and the law on conscription was simultaneously made gender-neutral.

In September 2016 the Swedish government announced that it plans to reintroduce gender-neutral conscription in 2018. On March 2, 2017, the Swedish government decided to reintroduce military conscription, meaning 4,000 men and women will be called up for service from 1 January 2018. Those conscripts will be chosen from a pool of about 13,000 young people born in 1999, and will serve for 12 months. The Swedish Armed Forces is reportedly planning for 4,000 recruits annually in basic military training in 2018 and 2019. As the relevant age cohort is about 100,000 this means that roughly 4% will be enlisted. During the height of the Cold War, about 85% of Swedish men were enlisted.

Non-military service
Conscientious objectors in Sweden have the right to choose alternative service (called vapenfri tjänst). After completing the alternative service the conscript is in the civilian reserve.