On Wednesday, Lithuania’s Defence Ministry compiled the list of conscripts for 2025, and it includes 25,149 young men.
The process was started by Defence Minister Dovilė Šakalienė at around 9:45 when she pressed a button that started the computer program. The process was completed in around an hour.
Compiled in the presence of four independent observers, the list still needs the defence minister’s signature.
In total, the lists of conscripts will be produced in the country’s six regions, and there are plans to call up nearly 3,900 young people to serve this year.
“As of today, over 700 young people have already expressed their willingness to do military service. This is a good signal,” Arūnas Balčiūnas, director of the Military Conscription and Recruitment Service at the Armed Forces, said.
Several hundred more students or graduates of higher education institutions will be able to perform their service by attending the training of junior officer command training.
List on Friday
The total list of conscripts is expected to be published by Friday.
Students will not be added to the list but can still be called up once after their graduation until the age of 26.
Students can also voluntarily suspend their studies for the duration of their military service, or they can complete their training as junior officers within three years. There is also the possibility of voluntary non-permanent military service within the National Defence Volunteer Forces.
Young men and women aged between 18 and 38 can also volunteer. They can choose their preferred place and time of service and receive maximum accrual benefits.
The first conscripts are scheduled to start their service in early February.
“A country is only as strong as its citizens. I don’t know a more meaningful commitment to the state than the determination to defend it, the determination to sacrifice one’s life,” Šakalienė said.
In the future, she said, a lot of attention will be paid to improving service conditions to attract and motivate more citizens to join the military.
The minister also vows to discuss the impact of health problems on the service with responsible representatives.
“The fact that every second young person is not fit for service is indeed an abnormal figure. The provisional answers are that it is a combination of health and motivation,” she said.
In her words, it is necessary to expand the existing infrastructure and the number of instructors in order to increase the number of conscripts.
“We’ve been trying to increase the threshold number and we’ve been talking about the general call-up for several years now. Unfortunately, the situation in terms of personnel and infrastructure has not changed substantially as we are still short of hundreds of people to train conscripts,” the minister stressed.
Changes next year
From January 1, young men who have reached the age of 17 have one month to contact the Military Conscription and Recruitment Service to undergo their initial medical check-up to determine whether they are fit for military service. This will be done to prepare for the forthcoming conscription reform, starting next year.
The conscription reform adopted last year provides for the conscription of 18–22-year-olds who have graduated high school. Those wishing to volunteer to serve could do so between the ages of 18 and 39.
Students who entered higher education before their inclusion into the conscription list will be able to defer their service or serve voluntarily, if they want to.
The duration of alternative service has also been extended from 10 to 12 months. Similarly, young people who have completed higher education and who have acquired professions in demand within the Armed Forces will be called up for a period of three months.
In 2024, around 3,900 young people were called up, and about half of them volunteered for service.
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