The German army is not recruiting enough soldiers as he intended with his great initiative to strengthen the force of Defending of the country driven by the war of Ukraine.
The number of new recruits willing to join the Bundeswehr has decreased by 7% this year compared to 2022, admitted the Ministry of Defense of Germany this week.
“Everyone talks about the shortage of personnel in the Bundeswehrand nobody knows that better than I do,” Germany’s defense minister said on Wednesday. Boris Pistoriusduring a visit to a career center of the armed forces in Stuttgart.
Last year, after the Russian invasion of Ukraine, berlin decided it was time to massively increase their spending on Defending and boost the number of his army, which had decreased in recent years.
An “unreachable” goal
However, in February, the parliamentary commissioner for the country’s armed forces, Eva Högladmitted that the ambitious goal of increasing the number of soldiers in the Bundeswehr from the current 183,000 to 203,000 by 2031 it was “unreachable.”
The problems with the Bundeswehr include a severe lack of funding and equipment. But hogl noted a high desertion rate among conscripts, as well as problems and delays between people expressing interest in joining the army and the response from the German Army Career Center.
Response time could be up to one year
The problems that affect the Bundeswehr they seem to accumulate. On Wednesday, the defense minister
Boris Pistorius He said recruiting the next generation of troops will be difficult, as younger recruits have greater concerns about work-life balance.
The churn rate for new entrants is currently 30%
In addition to that, the aging of the population in Germanywhich mirrors trends in much of the Western world, makes it difficult for the country to find new recruits among the younger generations.
By 2050, we will have 12% fewer people in the 15-24 age groupGerman Defense Minister
In light of this challenging situation, Pistorius He said the country is reviewing its target of reaching 203,000 troops by 2031.
