Swiss army faces shortage for recruits due to early departures

GENEVA

The Swiss army has warned of a looming shortage of military personnel for refresher training as more people leave the force early to opt for civic duty.

The findings are detailed in the 2025 army census, published by Swissinfo on Thursday. It found that early departures are complicating staffing for refresher courses.

According to the census, "early departures are making work in the refresher courses more difficult."

"Positions in advanced training services cannot be adequately filled. The resulting difficulties in training would reduce the standard of training and readiness in the medium term," it added.

Around 140,000 deployed members of the militia forces are required to ensure the 99,101 positions needed for mission fulfillment, taking into account that not all deployed members can always serve.

Since the Further Development of the Armed Forces reform, members remain deployed for 10 years, with 12-year deployments used during a transition period ending in 2028 and 2029. Together with "over 11,000 early departures per year," the effective force is expected to drop to 125,000 in 2029.

More than half of those leaving prematurely switch to civilian service, the report said.

On March 1, the army had 146,718 members, "256 fewer than in 2024." Parliament has approved higher hurdles to switch to civilian service, a move that may face a referendum.