National Service - Other Countries

Other Countries

National service is the usual term for compulsory military service programmes in countries including Austria, Cyprus, Denmark, Bulgaria, Greece, Guyana, Israel, Iran, Mexico, Norway, Finland, the Republic of China (Taiwan), Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Switzerland and Turkey. Conscription in the United States was called Selective Service and obligatory service was required until 1973. In the Netherlands, conscription was called "service duty" (Dutch: "dienstplicht"), and continued until 1996. After 1996 service duty was suspended in the Netherlands but not abolished, and although unlikely, it may be reinstated at any time by the Minister of Defense. Most NATO countries discontinued obligatory military service in the 1970s. Israel was the only country to conscript young women as well as young men for military service in the late 20th century.

India has a separate program called the National Service Scheme (NSS) in which students from primary level to graduate level participate. In some Indian colleges (like IITs), it is a compulsory part of curricula.