Conscription survey: One age group in particular is against it

star survey
A narrow majority is in favor of compulsory military service – there are clear differences in the age groups

from Lorenz Wolf-Doettinchem

Mar 11, 2024, 5:27 p.m

1 min

Defense Minister Boris Pistorius is considering reintroducing compulsory military service. A slight majority of citizens think this is right, but one age group in particular is against it.

At the beginning of April, Defense Minister Boris Pistorius wants to present his ideas on future conscription. He has just found out about the system there in Sweden. There, men and women receive a questionnaire on their 18th birthday, are invited to a muster depending on the answers and then some are called up for military service. In Germany, compulsory military service was not legally abolished in 2011, but was suspended. A narrow majority of Germans are currently in favor of reintroducing compulsory military service, according to a Forsa survey star resulted. The numbers in detail: 52 percent of citizens support compulsory service in the Bundeswehr, 43 percent are against it, 5 percent express no opinion. German attitudes to the issue have fluctuated in the two years following the Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the last Forsa survey on this in February 2023, 45 percent were in favor and 52 percent were against.

Younger women in particular are against conscription

The current survey shows a large gap by age group. The strongest supporters of compulsory military service are found in the older generation (60 years and over), at 59 percent. However, among 18 to 29 year olds who would be personally affected by the reintroduction, 59 percent are against compulsory military service. However, there are differences between the sexes among younger people: 52 percent of younger men are against compulsory military service, while among younger women the figure is even 68 percent.

Traffic light voters are divided on conscription

There are also big differences among the parties’ supporters. There is a lot of support for compulsory military service among voters from the Union (67 percent), the AfD (67 percent) and the Sahra Wagenknecht alliance (68 percent). There is disagreement among supporters of the traffic light coalition: 51 percent of SPD voters are in favor of a reintroduction, while the majority of Greens (57 percent) and FDP (62 percent) voters are against it.

The data was compiled by the market and opinion research institute forsa star and RTL Deutschland on March 7th and 8th, 2024. Database: 1004 respondents. Statistical margin of error: +/- 3 percentage points