Even in times of global economic crisis and shrinking national budgets, many countries are clinging to their military forces. Defense spending in most states is seen as an unavoidable necessity to protect their citizens.
But this is not the case of 23 countries in the world. Indeed, the latter do not have an army, most of them are small nations lacking military capabilities among them Andorra, Costa Rica, Liechtenstein, the Vatican, Samoa, Nauru, Kiribati and other states. island.
In addition, 6 countries without a permanent army maintain limited paramilitary forces to protect themselves. These include Iceland , Monaco, Haiti, Vanuatu, Panama and Mauritius.
Many countries were formed without an army at the time of their independence, including the Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Samoa and Tuvalu, and therefore did not consider it necessary to establish an army because of their small size. and the absence of foreign enemies. Other countries have been completely demilitarized. Like, for example, Costa Rica, which dissolved its army in 1948 after a bloody internal conflict. Visit armees.com to learn more about the military world.
Not having an army frees up a large percentage of the national budget that can be allocated to other public sectors, such as health and education. Nevertheless, the fact of staying without an army obviously entails risks, and many of these countries without military forces have concluded protection agreements with more powerful countries.
Iceland, for example, is protected by NATO, as is Monaco by France, Italy takes care of the Vatican and Andorra has signed a protection agreement in the event of an invasion with its two neighbors, France and Spain.