| Military branches | Taiwan Armed Forces: Army, Navy (includes Marine Corps), Air Force; Taiwan Coast Guard Administration (a law enforcement organization with homeland security functions during peacetime and national defense missions during wartime) (2021) note - the Armed Forces also have Military Police and Armed Forces Reserve commands |
| Military service age and obligation | starting with those born in 1994, males 18-36 years of age may volunteer for military service or must complete 4 months of compulsory military training (or substitute civil service in some cases); men born before December 1993 are required to complete compulsory service for 1 year (military or civil); men are subject to training recalls up to four times for periods not to exceed 20 days for 8 years after discharge; women may enlist, but are restricted to noncombat roles in most cases; as part of its transition to an all-volunteer military in December 2018, the last cohort of one-year military conscripts completed their service obligations (2019) |
| Military expenditures - percent of GDP | 2.3% of GDP (2020 est.) 2.1% of GDP (2019) 1.8% of GDP (2018) 1.8% of GDP (2017) 1.8% of GDP (2016) |
| Military and security service personnel strengths | the Taiwan military has approximately 170,000 active duty troops (90,000 Army; 40,000 Navy, including approximately 10,000 marines; 40,000 Air Force) (2020) |
| Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the Taiwan military is armed mostly with second-hand weapons and equipment provided by the US; Taiwan also has a domestic defense industry capable of upgrading some weapons systems and building surface naval craft and submarines (2020) |
Source: CIA World Factbook
This page was last updated on September 18, 2021
