Young men are far more likely to have mental health diagnoses or to be overweight than in the mid-1990s, according to the Defense Personnel Board, the Defense unit responsible for conscription.
During the first half of 2022, the Norwegian Defense Personnel Board announced that 57.83 percent of all applicants for military service were unfit to serve. reports Berlingske.
In 1995, only 30 percent were assessed as unsuitable.
However, health is not worse, the expert assures
In 2021, a Defense report concluded that the main reason for the growing rejection rate was the increase in mental health diagnoses. Nevertheless, a 2017 report cited by Berlingske suggested that only 22 percent were declared unfit for military service for that reason.
Rising obesity was also cited. According to the results of Anne Illemann Christensen from The Norwegian Institute for Public Healththe number of obese men aged 16-24 has doubled from 5 to 10 percent since 2010.
However, Christensen will not be swayed by saying that the young people’s health is getting worse.
“The proportion of young people with long-term illness or poor health is unchanged. The young people’s health behavior has not changed appreciably either – apart from the fact that there are fewer people who drink alcohol,” she said.
Will women close the gap?
The findings follow an admission in late January by the then Acting Minister of Defense Jakob Ellemann-Jensen that women should be made available for conscription in the Danish defence.
He told TV2 Denmark that he could no longer afford to accept only volunteers – and that everyone, including women, should be eligible.
While the law allows the Armed Forces to conscription, fewer than 1 percent are conscripted in this way. The young people’s national service usually lasts between four and 12 months.
In related news, Acting Defense Minister Troels Lund Poulsen says, told Børsen yesterday that Ellemann-Jensen “is doing better” – but an actual return date has not yet been confirmed.
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Source: The Nordic Page