Military service age and obligation:
16 years of age for voluntary military service (January 2004)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 16-49: 14,607,724 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 16-49: 12,046,268 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$42,836.5 million (2003)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2.4% (2003)
Transnational Issues United Kingdom
Disputes - international:
in 2003, Gibraltar residents voted overwhelmingly by referendum to
remain a British colony and against a "total shared sovereignty"
arrangement while demanding participation in talks between the UK
and Spain; Spain disapproves of UK plans to grant Gibraltar greater
autonomy; Mauritius and Seychelles claim the Chagos Archipelago
(British Indian Ocean Territory), and its former inhabitants since
their eviction in 1965; most Chagosians reside in Mauritius, and in
2001 were granted UK citizenship but no right to patriation in the
UK; UK rejects sovereignty talks requested by Argentina, which still
claims the Falkland Islands (Islas Malvinas) and South Georgia and
the South Sandwich Islands; territorial claim in Antarctica (British
Antarctic Territory) overlaps Argentine claim and partially overlaps
Chilean claim; Iceland, the UK, and Ireland dispute Denmark's claim
that the Faroe Islands' continental shelf extends beyond 200 nm
Illicit drugs:
producer of limited amounts of synthetic drugs and synthetic
precursor chemicals; major consumer of Southwest Asian heroin, Latin
American cocaine, and synthetic drugs; money-laundering center
This page was last updated on 20 October, 2005
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