Bundeswehr under pressure: Higher salaries are demanded instead of compulsory military service!

Bundeswehr under pressure: Higher salaries are demanded instead of compulsory military service!

The German Bundeswehr is facing an enormous personnel shortage and urgently needs support. A recent study by the Ifo Institute shows that recruiting volunteers through higher salaries is a more cost-effective solution compared to reintroducing compulsory military service. According to the calculations, the return to compulsory military service could cost the state around 3.2 billion euros annually and economic costs of 17.1 billion euros. This led experts to consider how to make recruiting soldiers more attractive. The Ifo Institute recommends aligning salaries for soldiers with the level of the private sector, which would lead to annual government spending of 7.7 billion euros, but could reduce the economic costs to just 9.4 billion euros, which is therefore more cost-effective than renewing compulsory military service, as the crown reported.

Conscription was suspended in Germany in 2011, and voluntary service lasts between seven and 23 months. The ifo Institute has also found that if compulsory military service is reintroduced, around 195,000 soldiers could be lost, who would then only enter the labor market later. These delays in career entry would result in significant economic costs, as young people would not be able to build wealth or human capital until a certain age. Eva Högl, the Bundestag's defense commissioner, describes the lack of personnel as a central problem that endangers Germany's defense capability. These findings highlight the urgency of improving both recruitment and conditions for soldiers to strengthen security in the current geopolitical landscape the time analyzed.