A U.S. Marine with 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company, II Marine Expeditionary Force Information Group, loads his gear alongside Swedish service members during exercise Burmese Chase 25, at Marine Corps Base Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, July 27, 2025. Burmese Chase is an annual U.S. led, multi-lateral training exercise comprised of integrating ground and air fires, infantry tactics and naval gunfire alongside NATO allies to enhance combat readiness and interoperability. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Cpl. Marc Imprevert) (This photo has been altered for security purposes by blurring out faces.)

A systematic review commissioned by the Swedish Armed Forces has found little scientific evidence that military conscription turns young people into better citizens. FOI researcher Peter Bäckström reviewed Nordic studies examining the long-term effects of military service on civic engagement, crime, drug abuse and social attitudes. The review found no clear causal effects on outcomes such as voting, blood donation, prosocial attitudes or criminality.

In a recent press release, Backström commented: “The military has traditionally been regarded as a process of maturation — an environment and experience that shapes young people into good citizens, often alongside people from social classes different from their own. That is why it is interesting to see that there is hardly any scientific evidence that conscription training has these kinds of effects.” Furthermore, according to Peter Bäckström, society should have one principal objective when using conscription.

“It is to train skilled soldiers and sailors who are needed and who fulfil a function in wartime military units. Drafting young men and women in the hope that it will produce broader social benefits would probably only lead to high costs for society and the economy. At the same time, significantly more effective solutions to social problems would risk being pushed into the background.”

Read the entire piece in the FOI article.