Bulgarian Armed Forces: Land Forces (Army), Naval Forces, Bulgarian Air Forces (Voennovazdushni Sili, VVS), Joint Special Forces; Ministry of Interior: Border Guards (2021)
Hellenic Armed Forces: Hellenic Army (Ellinikos Stratos, ES; includes National Guard reserves), Hellenic Navy (Elliniko Polemiko Navtiko, EPN), Hellenic Air Force (Elliniki Polemiki Aeroporia, EPA; includes air defense) (2021)
Military service age and obligation
18-27 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription ended in 2007; service obligation 6-9 months (2019)
19-45 years of age for compulsory military service; during wartime the law allows for recruitment beginning January of the year of inductee's 18th birthday, thus including 17 year olds; 18 years of age for volunteers; conscript service obligation is 1 year for the Army and 9 months for the Air Force and Navy; women are eligible for voluntary military service (2019)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP
1.6% of GDP (2020 est.)
3.15% of GDP (2019)
1.45% of GDP (2018)
1.23% of GDP (2017)
1.25% of GDP (2016)
2.68% of GDP (2020 est.)
2.36% of GDP (2019)
2.54% of GDP (2018)
2.38% of GDP (2017)
2.4% of GDP (2016)
Military - note
Bulgaria officially became a member of NATO in 2004
Greece joined NATO in 1952
Military and security service personnel strengths
the Bulgarian Armed Forces have approximately 30,000 active duty personnel (16,000 Army; 4,000 Navy; 7,000 Air Force; 3,000 other, joint staff, support) (2021)
the Hellenic Armed Forces have approximately 130,000 active duty personnel (90,000 Army; 15,000 Navy; 25,000 Air Force); approximately 35,000 National Guard (2020)
Military equipment inventories and acquisitions
the Bulgarian Armed Forces inventory consists primarily of Soviet-era equipment, although in recent years Bulgaria has procured limited amounts of more modern weapons systems from Western countries, including France, Italy, Norway, and the US (2020)
the inventory of the Hellenic Armed Forces consists mostly of a mix of imported weapons from Europe and the US, as well as a limited number of domestically produced systems, particularly naval vessels; Germany is the leading supplier of weapons systems to Greece since 2010, followed by France and the US; Greece's defense industry is capable of producing naval vessels and associated subsystems (2020)
Military deployments
120 Afghanistan (NATO) (2021)
approximately 1,000 Cyprus; 110 Kosovo (NATO); 150 Lebanon (UNIFIL) (Jan 2021)
