Bureau Européen de l'Objection de Conscience | Europäisches Büro für Kriegsdienstve

Lithuania

Previous reports: 2023/24

Conscription currently imposed?

Yes

Suspended 2009.

Reinstated 2015.

Conscientious objection first recognised

1990

Law on Substitute Service of the Lithuanian Soviet Socialist Republic

Constitution, 1992, Article 139

Law on National Conscription, 1996

Current provisions

Duration

Military service	Civilian service (% of military)
9 months	10 months (111%)

CO release of professional soldiers

–

No specific provisions, but grounds of conscience would be considered valid. Refusal could be appealed to court.

Minimum recruitment age

Conscription from 19

Population ¹

Total	% males 15-19	Thus approx. annual cohort reaching 18
2,628,186	2.6%	13,667

Armed forces

Total strength	Of which conscripts	Compared to annual cohort above
23,000	5,850 (25.4%)	Total strength is 168.3% of cohort Conscripts are 42.8% of cohort

Military expenditure

$ (% change from 2023)	Per capita	% of GDP
2,628m (+20.3%)	$916	3.1%

Population and armed forces figures are in principle derived from The Military Balance published by the international Institute for Strategic Studies, however the 2025 edition, apparently erroneously, gives a figure which does not accord with those for previous years or estimates from other sources – it has therefore been replaced by the figure given on the “Global Firepower” website: https://www.globalfirepower.com/active-military-manpower.php. Military expenditure figures are estimates published by SIPRI (The Stockholm International Peace Research Institute) in April 2025. ⤴