Report: German army faces aging and shrinking

The Bundeswehr is facing the twin challenges of aging and shrinking personnel.

In her annual report released on Tuesday, Eva Hogl, commissioner for the German armed forces in the Bundestag, said that despite a massive recruitment drive following the outbreak of the Russia-Ukraine war, the number of troops in Germany's armed forces will fall from 181,540 in 2023 to 181,200 in 2024. The average age rose from 32 to 34.

The report points out that the target of 200,000 troops originally set for 2025 was pushed back to 2031 two years ago, and now that target looks even further out of reach. While the increased defense budget puts Germany on track to meet NATO's defense spending target of 2 percent of GDP for the first time in 2024, about 82 percent of a special 100 billion euro defense fund set up in 2022 has already been exhausted.

After last month's election, CDU President Friedrich Merz and the Social Democrats (SPD) are in talks to form a coalition government and plan to boost military spending and economic recovery by changing borrowing rules. However, changing the basic law requires a two-thirds majority in parliament and faces considerable political resistance.

As the Bundeswehr's "parliamentary Ombudsman", Hoegel further noted that the state of the army's equipment, weapons and infrastructure is equally worrying. "Many of the barracks and related facilities remain in a worrying state of dilapidation," the report said.