Belize
18 years of age for voluntary military service; laws allow
for conscription only if volunteers are insufficient; conscription
has never been implemented; volunteers typically outnumber available
positions by 3:1 (2001)
Benin
21 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service;
in practice, volunteers may be taken at the age of 18; both sexes
are eligible for military service; conscript tour of duty - 18
months (2004)
Bhutan
18 years of age for voluntary military service; no
conscription (2001)
Bolivia
18 years of age for voluntary military service; when annual
number of volunteers falls short of goal, compulsory recruitment is
effected, including conscription of boys as young as 14; one
estimate holds that 40% of the armed forces are under the age of 18,
with 50% of those under the age of 16; conscript tour of duty - 12
months (2002)
Bosnia and Herzegovina
18 years of age for compulsory military
service in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina; 16 years of age
in times of war; 18 years of age for Republika Srpska; 17 years of
age for voluntary military service in the Federation and in the
Republika Srpska; by law, military obligations cover all healthy men
between the ages of 18 and 60, and all women between the ages of 18
and 55; service obligation is 4 months (July 2004)
Botswana
18 is the apparent age of voluntary military service; the
official qualifications for determining minimum age are unknown
(2001)
Brazil
19 years of age for compulsory military service, conscript
service obligation - 12 months; 17 years of age for voluntary
service (2001)
Brunei
18 years of age (est.) (2004)
Bulgaria
18 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military
service; conscript service obligation - 9 months (2004)
Burkina Faso
18 years of age for compulsory military service; 20
years of age for voluntary military service (2001)