Belarus Armed Forces: Army, Air and Air Defense Force, Special Operations Force, Special Troops (electronic warfare, signals, engineers, biological/chemical/nuclear protection troops, etc); Ministry of Interior: State Border Troops, Militia, Internal Troops (2021)
National Armed Forces (Nacionalie Brunotie Speki): Land Forces (Latvijas Sauszemes Speki), Naval Force (Latvijas Juras Speki, includes Coast Guard (Latvijas Kara Flote)), Air Force (Latvijas Gaisa Speki), National Guard (2021)
Military service age and obligation
18-27 years of age for compulsory military or alternative service; conscript service obligation is 12-18 months, depending on academic qualifications, and 24-36 months for alternative service, depending on academic qualifications; 17 year olds are eligible to become cadets at military higher education institutes, where they are classified as military personnel (2020)
18 years of age for voluntary male and female military service; no conscription (abolished 2007); under current law, every citizen is entitled to serve in the armed forces for life (2019)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
1.2% of GDP (2019)
1.2% of GDP (2018)
1.2% of GDP (2017)
1.3% of GDP (2016)
1.3% of GDP (2015)
2.27% of GDP (2020 est.)
2.03% of GDP (2019)
2.06% of GDP (2018)
1.59% of GDP (2017)
1.44% of GDP (2016)
Military and security service personnel strengths
the Belarus Armed Forces have approximately 45,000 active duty troops; information on the individual services varies, but probably includes about 25,000 Army, 15,000 Air/Air Defense, and 5,000 Special Operations forces (2020)
the National Armed Forces of Latvia have approximately 6,000 active duty troops (5,000 Land Forces; 500 Naval Force/Coast Guard; 500 Air Force) (2021)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the inventory of the Belarus Armed Forces is comprised of Russian-origin equipment; Belarus's defense industry manufactures some equipment, including vehicles, guided weapons, and electronic warfare systems (2021)
the Latvian military's inventory is limited and consists of a mixture of Soviet-era and more modern--mostly second-hand--European and US equipment; since 2010, it has received limited amounts of equipment from several European countries, as well as the US (2020)
