The Nordic country for the first time has extended a lottery for compulsory military service to women in its latest move to expand its armed forces.
July 1, 2025
Women in Denmark who have turned 18 became eligible for military conscription on Tuesday, as the Nordic country moved to expand its armed forces to prepare for a possible threat from Russia and to meet American expectations of NATO members.
The agreement to start including women in the draft was announced in March and passed by the Danish Parliament in June. “The defense needs all the fighting power we can mobilize ,” Michael W. Hyldgaard, Denmark’s defense chief, said in a statement in March when the change was announced. “This requires that we recruit from all over society.”
Danish women have long been allowed to volunteer to serve in the military, but until now they were not entered into a lottery system for compulsory service like their male peers. The government uses the lottery only if there are not enough volunteers to fill its needs. Women currently make up about 10 percent of the Danish Army, Navy and Air Force.
As it braces for a more precarious future — in which Russia may menace Europe beyond Ukraine’s borders — Denmark has been pushing hard to find more soldiers. A nation of six million, it currently has about 16,600 uniformed employees in the military and emergency services.
Denmark announced in January that it would aggressively increase its military spending, and it has taken a more hawkish approach to defense since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While Denmark does not share a border with Russia, its leaders are wary of Russia’s presence in the Arctic and in the Baltic Sea, where there have been instances of sabotage on infrastructure.
“I don’t think Danish politicians are fearing Russian tanks in Copenhagen tomorrow or anything like that, but it’s tied to fears that Russia could be a problem,” said Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
Anders Puck Nielsen, a military analyst at the Royal Danish Defense College, said, “There is a bigger concern now that the war in Ukraine might actually lead to a bigger war in Europe — so we need this sooner rather than later.”
The expansion of the draft to include women took effect about 18 months sooner than originally planned, after a liberal Danish political party joined an effort to put men and women on an equal footing in the draft. The change is motivated more by practical military needs than concerns about gender equality, some experts said.
“If we need to build up our forces quickly — and we need the numbers that we’re now aiming for — then we need to draft both men and women,” said Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a professor at the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College. He added, “It’s not really an ideological argument about equal rights and equal obligations.”
The decision to draft women aligns Denmark with Sweden and Norway, where women have long been conscripted. Finland does not have compulsory service for women but allows them to volunteer.
Denmark is seeking to increase the number of new recruits doing basic training each year to 6,500 by 2027, from about 4,700 last year. It is also tripling the length of required service to 11 months from four months, starting in February 2026.
The combination of seeking more recruits and requiring them to serve longer could discourage volunteers, making the need for conscription more likely, experts said. “Mandatory service may become more relevant,” said Dr. Olesen.
Danish military officials say there will be no explicit restriction on women’s roles: As in the United States, Danish women can serve in combat roles if they are physically capable of meeting the standards required.
Denmark is playing catch-up in military spending, experts said, after barely increasing its defense budget from 2009 to 2018, according to NATO data.
Mr. Jakobsen said that, for decades, Denmark felt it could rely on the United States for protection. That led to “decay” in its military readiness, he said. Now, he said, Denmark has to “rebuild our armed forces basically from scratch — because they’re basically nonfunctional.”
Mr. Jakobsen said that President Trump’s push for allies to increase their share of NATO spending and relentless interest in acquiring Greenland were likely to have accelerated efforts to beef up its capacity.
“But even without Trump, we would still have reintroduced the draft,” he said. The longer duration of required service is part of the effort, too, so the military can have more time to train and use its recruits.
July 1, 2025
Women in Denmark who have turned 18 became eligible for military conscription on Tuesday, as the Nordic country moved to expand its armed forces to prepare for a possible threat from Russia and to meet American expectations of NATO members.
The agreement to start including women in the draft was announced in March and passed by the Danish Parliament in June. “The defense needs all the fighting power we can mobilize ,” Michael W. Hyldgaard, Denmark’s defense chief, said in a statement in March when the change was announced. “This requires that we recruit from all over society.”
Danish women have long been allowed to volunteer to serve in the military, but until now they were not entered into a lottery system for compulsory service like their male peers. The government uses the lottery only if there are not enough volunteers to fill its needs. Women currently make up about 10 percent of the Danish Army, Navy and Air Force.
As it braces for a more precarious future — in which Russia may menace Europe beyond Ukraine’s borders — Denmark has been pushing hard to find more soldiers. A nation of six million, it currently has about 16,600 uniformed employees in the military and emergency services.
Denmark announced in January that it would aggressively increase its military spending, and it has taken a more hawkish approach to defense since Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. While Denmark does not share a border with Russia, its leaders are wary of Russia’s presence in the Arctic and in the Baltic Sea, where there have been instances of sabotage on infrastructure.
“I don’t think Danish politicians are fearing Russian tanks in Copenhagen tomorrow or anything like that, but it’s tied to fears that Russia could be a problem,” said Mikkel Runge Olesen, a senior researcher at the Danish Institute for International Studies.
Anders Puck Nielsen, a military analyst at the Royal Danish Defense College, said, “There is a bigger concern now that the war in Ukraine might actually lead to a bigger war in Europe — so we need this sooner rather than later.”
The expansion of the draft to include women took effect about 18 months sooner than originally planned, after a liberal Danish political party joined an effort to put men and women on an equal footing in the draft. The change is motivated more by practical military needs than concerns about gender equality, some experts said.
“If we need to build up our forces quickly — and we need the numbers that we’re now aiming for — then we need to draft both men and women,” said Peter Viggo Jakobsen, a professor at the Institute for Strategy and War Studies at the Royal Danish Defense College. He added, “It’s not really an ideological argument about equal rights and equal obligations.”
The decision to draft women aligns Denmark with Sweden and Norway, where women have long been conscripted. Finland does not have compulsory service for women but allows them to volunteer.
Denmark is seeking to increase the number of new recruits doing basic training each year to 6,500 by 2027, from about 4,700 last year. It is also tripling the length of required service to 11 months from four months, starting in February 2026.
The combination of seeking more recruits and requiring them to serve longer could discourage volunteers, making the need for conscription more likely, experts said. “Mandatory service may become more relevant,” said Dr. Olesen.
Danish military officials say there will be no explicit restriction on women’s roles: As in the United States, Danish women can serve in combat roles if they are physically capable of meeting the standards required.
Denmark is playing catch-up in military spending, experts said, after barely increasing its defense budget from 2009 to 2018, according to NATO data.
Mr. Jakobsen said that, for decades, Denmark felt it could rely on the United States for protection. That led to “decay” in its military readiness, he said. Now, he said, Denmark has to “rebuild our armed forces basically from scratch — because they’re basically nonfunctional.”
Mr. Jakobsen said that President Trump’s push for allies to increase their share of NATO spending and relentless interest in acquiring Greenland were likely to have accelerated efforts to beef up its capacity.
“But even without Trump, we would still have reintroduced the draft,” he said. The longer duration of required service is part of the effort, too, so the military can have more time to train and use its recruits.
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