page_title: Military service
section_title: Spain
hierarchical_section_title: Military service / Countries without mandatory military service / Spain
caption_attribution_description: Español: haciendo el servicio militar (mili). Años 40 Galego: facendo o servizo militar (mili). Década dos corenta
context_page_description: Military service is service by an individual or group in an army or other militia, whether as a chosen job or as a result of an involuntary draft.
  Some nations require a specific amount of military service from every citizen, except for special cases, such as physical or mental disorders or religious belief. Most countries that use conscription systems only conscript men; a few countries also conscript women. For example, Norway, Sweden, North Korea, Israel, and Eritrea conscript both men and women. However, only Norway and Sweden have a gender-neutral conscription system, where men and women are conscripted and serve on equal formal terms. Some nations with conscription systems do not enforce them.
  Nations which conscript for military service typically also rely on citizens choosing to join the armed forces as a career.
  Some nations with armed forces do not conscript their personnel. Instead, they promote military careers to attract and select recruits; see military recruitment.
  Some, usually smaller, nations have no armed forces at all, or rely on an armed domestic security force.
context_section_description: Spain abolished compulsory military service in 2001. Military and alternative service was nine months long and in recent years the majority of conscripts chose to perform alternative, rather than military, service.
caption: Military service in Spain (1945)
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