RKS

Service and public safety · Switzerland

Military, civilian service and civil protection

Three distinct systems. Compare the reported service days for a common year and see what each figure measures.

2024 · Reported service days

Military service

5,560,753

Civilian service

1,889,962

Civil protection

399,221

One year, three separate measures

Military service
5,560,753
Civilian service
1,889,962
Civil protection
399,221

Service days measure workload, not the number of people. Definitions differ by institution. These figures do not show the share choosing each service or a participation rate; no combined total is calculated.

What are the three systems?

Military service

Service in the Swiss Armed Forces. The published day count covers the army’s reported annual service workload.

Civilian service

Civilian alternative to military service. ZIVI’s count includes assignments, training courses and trial assignments.

Civil protection

A distinct civil-protection system. The FOCP reports service days performed in civil protection; this is not civilian alternative service.

Sources and definitions

National observations only. No canton or language-region estimates are inferred. Recruitment fitness assessments and civilian-service admissions are different cohorts and are not combined here.

The civilian-service chart was visually checked against the exact official PDF. If that document changes, its replacement is held for review. Newer years are shown only after source validation.