Military Estonia
Military branches:
Estonian Defense Forces: Land Force, Navy, Air Force, Volunteer
Defense League (Kaitseliit, KL) (2006)
Military service age and obligation: compulsory military service for men between 19 and 28; conscription lasts 11 months for junior NCOs and reserve platoon leaders; reserve officers and designated specialists have a different conscript service obligation; Estonia has committed to retaining conscription for men up to 2010 and, unlike Latvia and Lithuania, has no plan to transition to a contract armed forces; 17 years of age for volunteers; reserve commitment up to the age of 60 (2006)
Manpower available for military service: males age 18-49: 291,696 females age 18-49: 304,961 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service: males age 18-49: 200,382 (in 2004, 51% of the young men called up for service were determined to be unfit; main obstacles to conscription were psychiatric and behavioral) females age 18-49: 250,351 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males: 11,146
females age 18-49: 10,605 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$155 million (2002 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
2% (2002 est.)
Transnational Issues Estonia
Disputes - international:
in 2005, Russia refuses to sign the 1996 technical border agreement
with Estonia when Estonia prepares a unilateral declaration
referencing Soviet occupation and territorial losses; Russia demands
better accommodation of Russian-speaking population in Estonia;
Estonian citizen groups continue to press for realignment of the
boundary based on the 1920 Tartu Peace Treaty that would bring the
now divided ethnic Setu people and parts of the Narva region within
Estonia; as a member state that forms part of the EU's external
border, Estonia must implement the strict Schengen border rules