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Hundreds of teenagers have reported for compulsory military service for the first time in nearly two decades.
10:15, Tue, Mar 10, 2026 Updated: 10:19, Tue, Mar 10, 2026
Hundreds of teenagers have reported for compulsory military service for the first time since 2008 (Image: Getty)
For the first time since 2008, Croatia has officially reinstated mandatory military service to address its shortfall in voluntary military training. As a result, hundreds of Croatian teenagers have reported for duty, with training taking place at three barracks across the country.
Once on site, the recruits receive their kit and dormitory assignments, and, for the next two months, must submit to military discipline so the country can ensure adequate military preparedness.
"They have now been torn from the civilian environment," Tihomir Kundid, Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Croatia, said. Around 800 people are in the first batch of conscripts, with over half having volunteered rather than waiting for their call-up papers. One in 10 are women, who are under no obligation to serve.
In 2022, only 402 individuals completed voluntary training - far below the annual need of 1,000 conscripts (Image: Getty)
Gen Kundid has promised a "very dynamic, very interesting" programme for the conscripts, with training covering everything from traditional skills through to "basic drone control and drone protection skills" and cyberwarfare techniques and countermeasures, according to the BBC.
Croatia last had obligatory military service in 2008. Since then, people could join only voluntarily if they met certain requirements. Currently, Croatia’s military has 15,000 active soldiers and 2,000 reservists. In 2022, only 402 individuals completed voluntary training - far below the annual need of 1,000 conscripts.
However, Croatia's proximity to the war in Ukraine - with only Hungary separating the two countries - has prompted a move to reinstate compulsory military service.
"The situation in Croatia and all around our neighbourhood was stable. Right now, it's completely different," Croatia's Defence Minister, Ivan Anusic, told the BBC. "For four years now, we've been looking at not just the Russian aggression in Ukraine, but the proxies of Russia all around Europe doing their jobs."
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One in 10 Croatian conscripts are women, who are under no obligation to serve (Image: Getty)
In November 2025, the Ministry of Defense (MORH) proposed regulations. The first calls for medical examinations of recruits were issued by the end of last year. "Obvezni vojni rok" (obligatory military service), also known as "vojno osposobljavanje" (military training), began on Monday (March 9).
Approximately 18,000 young men in Croatia turn 18 each year. Several thousand of them will be called for mandatory military service at various intervals. It is expected that 4,000 conscripts will undergo mandatory training every year, divided into five generations.
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Conscription will be based on a pool of male Croatian citizens aged 18 to 27 (with a prior postponement, the limit can be extended to age 30), beginning with those born in 2007. All 18-year-old men will be registered in the military register and sent to military training in the calendar year when they turn 19. College students can choose to serve in the military before they begin college so that they can enter the workforce right after graduation.
Croatia is not the only European nation turning the tide on conscription, either. Ahead of this month's parliamentary elections, Slovenia's largest opposition party has been pushing a return to conscription. Meanwhile, Serbia's president, Aleksandar Vucic, has announced that military service will return within the next 12 months, coinciding with increased military spending.
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