Number of German soldiers drops despite recruitment push

The number of German army soldiers has sunk to 181,500, despite major efforts by the government to increase the ranks, the Defence Ministry told dpa on Friday.

This means that as of the end of last year, there were around 1,500 fewer temporary and career Bundeswehr soldiers as well as volunteers doing military service than a year earlier.

At the end of 2022, the Bundeswehr still had 183,050 soldiers.

The Bundeswehr's primary goal is and remains to sustainably strengthen its personnel readiness, a spokeswoman said.

"We need qualified and operationally ready men and women who are available in sufficient numbers for the tasks and missions ahead," she said.

The increasingly noticeable effects of demographic and social change are becoming apparent in practically all professions and fields of work, she added.

She said the Bundeswehr has to compete with the private sector for job candidates as employers battle for an insufficient pool of skilled labour in Germany.

A "bundle of measures and initiatives" had been introduced in order to increase attractiveness, act more flexibly and react more quickly, she remarked.

The number of professional soldiers and those doing voluntary military service has increased slightly while there has been a marked decrease in the number of regular soldiers.

Germany's declared goal is for the Bundeswehr to grow to 203,000 soldiers by 2031.

Amid the fall in numbers, there has also been recent debate about reintroducing mandatory conscription, or the recruitment of soldiers who are not German citizens.

In Germany, conscription was suspended, but not abolished, in 2011 after being in force for 55 years.

Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 shook up the German defence establishment, leading to a ripple of changes including a funding boost for the Bundeswehr and concerns about its overall military readiness.