Armed Forces: Bundeswehr has fewer soldiers again

In the Bundeswehr, the number of soldiers dropped again slightly last year despite more settings. At the end of the year there were around 181,150 soldiers, said a spokeswoman for the Department of Defense of the German Press Agency in Berlin. A year earlier, on December 31, 2023, there were around 181,500 men and women in uniform.

According to the figures, there was a decline, especially among the time soldiers, while a slight plus is recorded for professional soldiers and military service providers.

At the end of 2022, the Bundeswehr still had 183,050 soldiers. This too was significantly less than the target of 203,000 men and women in the armed forces. However, this has been overtaken since the military turnaround and the war of aggressure by Russia against Ukraine because more soldiers are required for state and alliance defense.

Department of Defense reports “trend reversal”

With reference to more applications and attitudes, the Ministry of Defense speaks of having achieved a “trend reversal”. There were around 20,300 settings, around 8 percent more than in 2023. This is an increase in attitudes of around 1,500 soldiers. “The year 2024 was the highest recruitment year of recruitment in the past five years,” said the spokeswoman.

According to this information, there were around 81,600 civil workers, about 100 more than at the turn of 2023/2024. A total of around 20,100 men and women performed a total of 1,700 women last year. In the same period last year, there were less: 2023 did 19,100 reservist service, including 1,400 women.