I was a little surprised at Finland’s high number, but they share a 1,340 km (830 mile) border with Russia and have been under threat for a long time. I was not, however surprised at the low response rates in most other countries. It is generally the politicians who are spoiling for war from their desks that send people out to fight. I bet if you asked the politicians, the percentages it would be higher.
It also depends on the questions asked. In Sweden, in a study done in 2018, 2200 people were asked how willing they were to be part of the nation’s total defence, with some nuances:
- 49% were willing to contribute in a fighting role, at a risk for life.
- 77% were willing to contribute in a non-fighting role, at a risk for life.
- 84% were willing to contribute in a non-fighting role, at no risk for life.
Obviously things have changed since then. Since 2022, the Ukraine-Russia situation has changed the geopolitical landscape and Finland and Sweden have joined Nato (which was previously unthinkable). There are also unstable situations in many other countries.
This is a very interesting statistic and I’m a bit surprised that the numbers are so low in “my” countries. It looks like the world is heading towards a lot of trouble and I wonder if these numbers are going to change somehow. I know that Germany is rethinking things. There is a bit of an army but it’s nowhere nearly as prepared as other countries’s armies. I just hope we don’t need to go that far.
The sad thing is, I think many men never chose to fight for their country. They were forced to by conscription/the draft. And if something big and bag happens to our world, men (because it is still mostly men) won’t have a choice.
You are so right. We often hear of men who chose to go to war and who even enlisted when they were so young and even underage but things are so different now. Let’s hope we can get out of this without stepping into a big war…