NationStates Jolt Archive

it has been stated many times that the normal military size is .5% - 5% of population.

this is not necessarly true.

several countries (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conscription#Countries_with_mandatory_military_service) have compulsory (manditory) military service.

figures taken from CIA World Factbook (http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/index.html)

Austria
pop 8,184,691
mil size 1,914,800
percent 23.3%

Belarus
pop 10,300,483
mil size 2,520,644
percent 24.4%

Brazil
pop 186,112,794
mil size 45,586,036
percent 24.5%

Bulgaria
pop 7,450,349
mil size 1,661,211
percent 22.3%

Chile
pop 15,980,912
mil size 3,815,761
percent 23.8%

China
pop 1,306,313,812
mil size 342,956,265
percent 26.2%

Croatia
pop 4,495,904
mil size 1,005,058
percent 22.3%

Cyprus
pop 780,133
mil size 184,352
percent 23.6%

Denmark
pop 5,432,335
mil size 1,175,108
percent 21.6%

Egypt
pop 77,505,756
mil size 18,347,560
percent 23.6%

Finland
pop 5,223,442
mil size 1,121,275
percent 21.4%

Germany
pop 82,431,390
mil size 18,917,537
percent 22.9%

Greece
pop 10,668,354
mil size 2,459,988
percent 23.1%

Israel
pop 6,276,883
mil size 2,704,519
percent 43.1%

Lebanon
pop 3,826,018
mil size 974,363
percent 25.4%

Malaysia
pop 23,953,136
mil size 5,584,231
percent 23.3%

Mexico
pop 106,202,903
mil size 24,488,008
percent 23.1%

Norway
pop 4,593,041
mil size 1,014,592
percent 22.1%

Poland
pop 38,635,144
mil size 9,673,712
percent 25%

Romania
pop 22,329,977
mil size 5,061,984
percent 22.6%

Russia
pop 143,420,309
mil size 35,247,049 (15,776,234 11%)
percent 24.5% (russia has a madnitory draft but only 11% comply (http://www.spacedaily.com/2002/021206145741.ooyw2y54.html))

Singapore
pop 4,425,720
mil size 1,215,568
percent 27.4%

South Korea
pop 48,422,644
mil size 12,458,257
percent 25.7%

Switzerland
pop 7,489,370
mil size 1,707,694
percent 22.8%

Turkey
pop 69,660,559
mil size 16,756,323
percent 24.1%

Ukraine
pop 47,425,336
mil size 11,067,239
percent 23.3%

Venezuela
pop 25,375,281
mil size 6,236,012
percent 24.6%


i fail to see how the size in game is assumed to be so low when it real terms it is much higher.

as shown above, countries with compulsory service easily have per capita 20% or higher of their populations in service.

some as high as 40%

since military service is required in my country i see no problem with me being able to mobilize at the minimum 25% of my population if necessary.

You may not see a problem. Others may. This sort of thing isn't an absolute. If you can find someone who's willing to RP with you using these figures, then so be it.

However, considering the sizes of armies actually used in combat by countries with compulsory services, those figures are a bit high. Note that the Soviet Union, for example, during WWII had a maximum of 4% of its population in the army; Germany, about 6-8%; the US today has only about 1%. (And we're at war, too...)

My country in RL (Slovenia) had it until 2003, and now it has professional army, we have a population of around 2 milion, and curently, our army is only 25.000, but it will rise, we just need to adopt to the new way.

And that is 1,25 %... I think those numbers in the Wikipedia are a bit to high... :confused:

thats not from wikipedia, thats from the CIA world factbook.

Those figures are entirely inaccurate. You appear to be taking the numbers as all people who are already within the military, when in fact they are the number of people within that specific age group.

Austria
pop 8,184,691
mil size 1,914,800
percent 23.3%


Military manpower - availability:
males age 18-49: 1,914,800 (2005 est.)
That is the amount of citizens within that age group, and has nothing to do with the amount of people actually in the military.