Military and security service personnel strengths | approximately 170,000 active personnel (100,000 Army; 30,000 Navy; 40,000 Air Force); approximately 108,000 Carabinieri (2024) |
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Military equipment inventories and acquisitions | the military's inventory includes a mix of domestically manufactured, imported, and jointly produced weapons systems, mostly from Europe and the US; in recent years, the US has been the lead supplier of military hardware to Italy; the Italian defense industry is capable of producing equipment across all the military domains with particular strengths in aircraft, armored vehicles, and naval vessels; it also participates in joint development and production of advanced weapons systems with other European countries and the US (2024) |
Military service age and obligation | 17-25 years of age for voluntary military service for men and women (some variations on age depending on the military branch); voluntary service is a minimum of 12 months with the option to extend in the Armed Forces or compete for positions in the Military Corps of the Italian Red Cross, the State Police, the Carabinieri, the Guardia di Finanza, the Penitentiary Police, or the National Fire Brigade; recruits can also volunteer for 4 years military service; conscription abolished 2004 (2024). note: women serve in all military branches; as of 2023, women made up about 8% of the military's full-time personnel |
Military deployments | 120 Djibouti; approximately 750 Bulgaria (NATO); approximately 650 Middle East (NATO, European Assistance Mission Iraq); 250 Hungary (NATO; up to 1,500 Kosovo (NATO/KFOR); 250 Latvia (NATO); 1,325 Lebanon (UNIFIL); 200 Libya; 350 Niger; 250 Romania (NATO); 150 Somalia (EUTM) (2024). note 1: Italy has about 11,500 total air, ground, and naval forces deployed on foreign missions note 2: since 1960, Italy has committed more than 60,000 troops to UN missions, and it hosts a training center in Vicenza for police personnel destined for peacekeeping missions |
Military expenditures | |
Military Expenditures 2024 | 1.5% of GDP (2024 est.) |
Military Expenditures 2023 | 1.5% of GDP (2023) |
Military Expenditures 2022 | 1.5% of GDP (2022) |
Military Expenditures 2021 | 1.5% of GDP (2021) |
Military Expenditures 2020 | 1.6% of GDP (2020) |
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