Military branches:
Botswana Defense Force (includes an air wing) (2006)
Military service age and obligation:
18 is the apparent age of voluntary military service; the official
qualifications for determining minimum age are unknown (2001)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 350,649
females age 18-49: 361,642 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 136,322
females age 18-49: 136,315 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 21,103
females age 18-49: 21,379 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$325.5 million (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
3.4% (2005 est.)
Transnational Issues Botswana
Disputes - international:
commission established with Namibia has yet to resolve small
residual disputes along the Caprivi Strip, including the Situngu
marshlands along the Linyanti River; downstream Botswana residents
protest Namibia's planned construction of the Okavango hydroelectric
dam at Popavalle (Popa Falls); Botswana has built electric fences to
stem the thousands of Zimbabweans who flee to find work and escape
political persecution; Namibia has long supported and in 2004
Zimbabwe dropped objections to plans between Botswana and Zambia to
build a bridge over the Zambezi River, thereby de facto recognizing
their short, but not clearly delimited Botswana-Zambia boundary
This page was last updated on 19 December, 2006