Defence: from disarmament to rearmament
Short answer: In the early 1960s Sweden spent almost 4 per cent of GDP on defence. After the Cold War the share fell almost every year, to just over 1 per cent in 2017, and conscription was suspended in 2010. After Russia annexed Crimea in 2014 and invaded Ukraine in 2022, the trend turned. Sweden joined Nato in 2024 and the same year reached Nato's target of 2 per cent of GDP. In 2025 the share was 2.5 per cent, or 162 billion kronor. Nato's new target is 3.5 per cent for defence by 2035, and the government wants to get there as early as 2030. Conscription is back: 8,807 conscripts started in 2026, more than in any year since 2004. Since 2026 civil defence has its own agency, and the state is rebuilding stocks of grain, medicines and fuel.
More on the site: State budget shows what the Nato targets cost and how Sweden compares with its neighbours, the 1973 oil crisis why Sweden started stockpiling oil, and The parties' decisions how the parties voted on Nato.
Defence spending as a share of GDP since 1960.
The figures come from the peace research institute SIPRI, which counts the same way for every country. The total includes the Armed Forces, the other military agencies, military pensions and peacekeeping. Civil defence is not included.
The Cold War, up to 1990
Sweden was non-aligned and built an invasion defence to manage on its own. Almost every young man did military service, and the air force was one of the largest in Europe. Even so, the share of GDP fell slowly, because the economy grew faster than defence.
Disarmament, 1990 to 2014
When the Soviet Union fell, the Riksdag and the government judged that a military attack on Sweden was unlikely. Defence decisions closed regiments, naval flotillas and air wings, and the forces were instead to take part in international operations. Conscription was suspended on 1 July 2010.
Rearmament, from 2014
After Crimea in 2014, defence decisions began to expand the units again, and conscription was revived in 2018, now for both women and men. After the invasion of Ukraine, Sweden applied to join Nato in May 2022 and became a member on 7 March 2024. Spending in kronor has more than doubled since 2020.
What defence costs in kronor.
In current kronor, spending has almost always risen. In today's prices, adjusted with the consumer price index, defence instead cost about the same for fifty years and then more than doubled in five.
Nato's target: first 2 per cent, now 3.5.
| Decision | Target | Latest |
|---|---|---|
| Nato summit in Wales 2014 | 2 % of GDP for defence | 2024 |
| Nato summit in The Hague 2025 | 3.5 % for core defence and 1.5 % for other security, 5 % in total | 2035 |
| The government, budget bill for 2026 | 3.5 % of GDP for defence | 2030 |
Nato counts defence spending in its own way, which is not exactly the same as SIPRI's. What the targets cost, the fees to Nato and the comparison with neighbouring countries are on State budget. The Riksdag voted for membership in March 2023 by 269 votes to 37; how the parties voted is on The parties' decisions.
How many do military service.
General conscription for men was introduced in 1901. During the Cold War almost every young man did basic training. In the 1990s the forces shrank and fewer were called up, and from 2010 to 2017 conscription was suspended and the forces were staffed only by volunteers. Since 2018 the duty applies to both women and men, but only those who are needed are called up. Everyone turning 18 answers the Swedish Defence Conscription and Assessment Agency's questions, and those best suited are called to assessment.
| Year | Started |
|---|---|
| 1994/95 | 34,948 |
| 1997 | 32,150 |
| 1999 | 18,711 |
| 2001 | 13,859 |
| 2003 | 15,529 |
| 2005 | 9,225 |
| 2007 | 4,730 |
| 2009 | 7,345 |
| 2010 | 1,644 |
| 2011 to 2017 | suspended |
| 2018 | 3,750 |
| 2019 | 4,500 |
| 2020 | 4,917 |
| 2021 | 5,873 |
| 2022 | 5,475 |
| 2023 | 6,320 |
| 2025 | 8,251 |
| 2026 | 8,807 |
Up to 2023 from the Armed Forces' annual reports, 2025 and 2026 from the Conscription Agency's figures for those enrolled and starting. Of those who started in 2026, 1,433 were women, about 16 per cent. In 2023, 27,100 people were assessed out of an age group of 107,100. Figures from before 1994 are not collected in the same way.
Military and civil defence, together.
Total defence is everything society does to get through a war: military defence and civil defence, which includes municipalities, regions, agencies, companies and ordinary people. During the Cold War civil defence was large, with shelters, stocks and civil defence duty. After 1990 most of it was wound down. Now it is being rebuilt.
The defence decision for 2025 to 2030
In December 2024 the Riksdag adopted the bill Total Defence 2025–2030. It sets new goals for both military and civil defence, and is the first to assume that Sweden is in Nato.
Bill 2024/25:34
A new agency for civil defence
On 1 January 2026 the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency, MSB, became the Swedish Agency for Civil Defence. It coordinates civil defence and leads preparedness work across society.
mcf.se
In case of crisis or war
In November 2024 the brochure In case of crisis or war was sent to every household, just over five million copies. It explains how to manage for a week without electricity, water and shops, and what everyone should do under heightened alert.
MSB
Appropriations for civil defence, shelters per municipality, how well households would manage a week and power outages are covered on Crisis preparedness.
Food, medicines and fuel.
During the Cold War the state kept large emergency stocks of grain, fuel and much else. Most were sold or wound down in the 1990s and 2000s, when goods could instead be bought just when they were needed. Now stocks are being built up again.
Food
In the budget for 2026 the government set aside 575 million kronor for emergency stocks, and the Board of Agriculture is to buy grain, first for stores in northern Sweden. Parliament has also passed a new law on emergency stocks in the food chain. More on that and on how much of its food Sweden produces itself is on Agriculture and food.
The government, bill 2025/26:205
Medicines and medical supplies
From 1 January 2027 the regions must keep stocks of medicines and medical products, aiming to cover one month's use. In 2026 the state pays out 186 million kronor for medicine stocks and 557 million for medical supplies and protective equipment. The Dental and Pharmaceutical Benefits Agency has proposed three months' stocks of certain medicines.
The government and SKR, TLV
Fuel
Since the 1973 oil crisis Sweden has stockpiled oil. By law the stocks must last 90 days of net imports or 61 days of consumption, whichever is larger, and the Energy Agency decides each year how much the companies must store. In June 2026 the government gave the agency more scope to release oil from the stocks, after the International Energy Agency, IEA, decided on a joint release.
Act (2012:806), Energy Agency
Where the figures come from.
- Defence spending: the World Bank's World Development Indicators, the series for military expenditure as a share of GDP and in kronor, with data from SIPRI (CC BY 4.0). Fixed prices are calculated with the World Bank's consumer price index for Sweden.
- Conscription: the Armed Forces' annual reports 2003, 2006, 2010 and 2018 to 2023, the Conscription Agency's annual report 2023 and its press releases 2025 and 2026.
- Nato: Nato's declarations from the summits in Wales 2014 and The Hague 2025, the government's budget bill for 2026 and the Riksdag's decision in 2023.
- Total defence: bill 2024/25:34, the Riksdag's decision on the Swedish Agency for Civil Defence and MSB's press release on the brochure.
- Emergency stocks: the government's press releases 2025 and 2026, bill 2025/26:205, the Act (2012:806) on emergency stockholding of oil and the Energy Agency.
The expenditure series was retrieved in October 2026; the figure for 2025 is SIPRI's preliminary one. Other figures are transferred by hand from the sources in autumn 2026.