In recent years, the defense debate in Europe has revolved almost exclusively around money and technology. It talks about percentages of GDPmodernization and new systems capable of changing the battlefield. However, there is a much less visible factor that ends up being decisive when it comes time to turn plans into reality.
A decade of losing muscle. The news Europa Press gave it. Since 2010, the Spanish Armed Forces They have lost 13,300 troops and they carry a structural deficit that the Military Life Observatory describes as chronic.
As of January 1, 2025 there were 116,739 soldiers in active service, very far from the legal minimum of 130,000 established by the Military Career Law. The gap ranges between 13,000 and 23,000 uniformed personnel, a figure that is practically equivalent to an entire army within the system itself.
Objectives that are not met. Several weeks ago another news item put the target on an enlightening fact: the regulatory framework establishes a maximum of 50,000 officers and non-commissioned officers, but there are only 40,656 dashboardsincluding 227 generals, leaving a wide margin unfilled.
In the troops and Navy, the budget ceiling has limited staff numbers to 79,000 for years, although it is barely exceed 76,000 troops. The distance between what is provided for in the law and what is available in the barracks is not temporary, but sustained over time.
More budget on weapons, fewer hands to operate them. The strategic debate in Europe has turned towards the modernization of systems and increased spending up to 2.1% of GDPbut the emphasis has not been transferred with the same intensity to the staff.
Weapons programs and technological capabilities are expanding, but the number of military personnel is barely growing or even go back. Hence all this leads us to another reality very different from what we usually think: Spain’s main problem is not fighters, drones or new systems, but rather the great number of staff missing to use them and keep them operational.
A 2025 that closed in negative. Despite the government’s commitment to increase staff by 7,500 personnel in four years, 2025 ended with 832 fewer soldiers than the previous year.
The drop was especially pronounced at the officer level, where a thousand professionals they abandoned or passed to the reserve without sufficient replacement. Although non-commissioned officers and troops registered slight increases, the global balance was once again negative at a time when the international environment demands just the opposite.
Lack of interest. The interpretation of these data leaves little room for doubt. The number of places offered has increased, but the proportion of applicants per vacancy has decreased worryingly.
In the troop area the ratio has fallen to 4.2 applicants per placefar from the levels of a decade ago. In officers and non-commissioned officers, the descent is even more pronouncedwith fewer candidates and a worse selection margin, which limits the quality of replacement and anticipates problems of generational change.
Salaries, mobility and little incentive for promotion. There is much more, as the report points to lower salaries to other bodies of the State and to an accumulated loss of purchasing power that discourages a military career.
Constant mobility can imply a higher cost of living and low salary compensationleading many to give up promotions. The result is that “little interest” in progressing within the institution and a structure that ages without sufficient renewal.
Stressed and aged. The other elephant in the room: more than a third of the dashboards exceeds 50 years and the troops also show progressive aging, while the reservists have decreased steadily since 2014.
For its part, female participation grows slightly up to 13.1%above the NATO average, but it does not compensate for the overall loss of troops. I remembered the newspaper El Mundo that the system is also facing an increase in harassment complaints that adds reputational pressure at a time of low recruitment.
Material capacity without critical mass. All this leaves a more or less illuminating map. Spain is investing in capabilities and is committed to increasingly demanding international missions, but it does so with less staff that fifteen years ago.
The organizational structures and operational commitments have not diminished, rather the oppositewhile the human base it doesn’t stop shrinking. From that perspective, everything indicates that, if the trend is not reversed, the country may find itself with a future where the Armed Forces are modernized in equipment, but without the critical mass necessary to sustain them over time and respond reliably to an increasingly demanding strategic environment.
Image | Air and Space Army Ministry of Defense Spain, Spanish Army
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