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Lawrence Chung

Taiwan’s volunteer force has recorded an unexpected increase of more than 5,000 personnel over the past year despite the island’s worsening demographic decline.
However, lawmakers and military analysts say the growth is driven more by government pay rises than by any apparent shift in young people’s attitudes towards military service.
The figures, released by the defence ministry this week, brought rare good news to an armed force grappling with chronic manpower shortages.
But critics warned that the increase masked deeper structural problems, arguing that boosting recruitment alone would not reverse a long-term decline in combat readiness unless the military could also retain experienced personnel.
Taiwan’s volunteer troop numbers rose by “more than 5,000 as of June from a year earlier”, the defence ministry said in a report submitted to the legislature last Wednesday. It credited the increase to the introduction of “higher military pay, improved living conditions, relaxed recruitment standards and more ‘people-oriented’ personnel management”.

It said the measures had also helped boost volunteer numbers by more than 3,000 in 2025, raise retention rates by 5.2 percentage points and reduce the number of personnel discharged as unsuitable for service by 1,652.
Nevertheless, the ministry acknowledged that the longer-term outlook looked bleak, with the number of eligible male conscripts projected to fall from nearly 98,000 in 2023 to about 77,900 by 2027 – the first time the total would drop below 80,000.
It plans to rely more heavily on technology to address the shortfall, with future force planning focusing on “technology replacing manpower” and “firepower replacing traditional troop strength”.
Speaking at the legislature on Wednesday, Taiwan’s defence minister, Wellington Koo Li-hsiung, said the military would resume examinations for reserve officer and reserve non-commissioned officer candidates next year, after the return of one-year compulsory military service created a larger pool of better-trained conscripts.
The ministry is also seeking approval to extend monthly combat-unit allowances to one-year conscripts who volunteer for frontline units, while Koo said the growing number of university graduates entering compulsory service next year would further strengthen the manpower pool.
Opposition lawmakers questioned whether the improved recruitment figures reflected actual progress.
Ma Wen-chun, a lawmaker from the main opposition party Kuomintang, said many frontline units remained below the military’s target staffing level of 80 per cent of authorised strength, forcing personnel to perform multiple duties while leaving some equipment without enough operators.
“The real problem is not recruitment, but retention,” she said, noting that roughly one in four volunteer soldiers had left the military between 2021 and 2024.
Although the opposition-controlled legislature last year approved raising the monthly volunteer service allowance to NT$30,000 (US$935), Ma said the cabinet had yet to fully implement the increase.
“If the military cannot retain the people it most needs, the policy risks missing the heart of the problem.”
Lawmaker Wang An-hsiang from the smaller opposition Taiwan People’s Party said the improved recruitment figures deserved recognition, but questioned whether staffing in key combat units fell short of what was needed to maintain combat effectiveness.
“The real issue is whether manpower in these critical units has already fallen below a safe level,” he said.


Military analysts said the latest figures should not be mistaken for evidence that young Taiwanese had become more willing to pursue military careers.
Retired air force officer Wang Ming-chung said many young people viewed military service as a temporary stepping stone rather than a lifelong profession, with abundant education and employment opportunities making it difficult for the armed forces to compete for talent.
“With the same level of pay, why would they choose to stay in the military?” he asked.
Chieh Chung, a research fellow at the Taipei-based Association of Strategic Foresight, said the military’s recruitment performance had stayed relatively strong, with the success rate for recruiting male volunteer soldiers exceeding 86 per cent over the past five years.
“The problem comes from not being able to retain people, not from failing to recruit them,” he said.
Chieh said severe manpower shortages had created a vicious cycle, where the heavier operational and training burdens faced by remaining personnel prompted many volunteers to leave once their contracts expired.
According to Su Tzu-yun, a senior analyst at the government-funded Institute for National Defence and Security Research, demographic decline would affect every part of the armed forces, from combat formations to logistics and headquarters.
“Rather than trying to maintain manpower at all costs, Taiwan should capitalise on its strengths in information technology and advanced manufacturing by accelerating the adoption of artificial intelligence, automation and uncrewed systems,” Su said.
Military analyst Lu De-yun, a former defence ministry press secretary, warned that the consequences of manpower shortages were already becoming apparent.
Chronic shortages meant some units lacked enough personnel to operate and maintain increasingly sophisticated weapons systems, he said.
“You can buy all the weapons you want, but if nobody can operate or maintain them, what is the point?”


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Taiwan military gains 5,000 volunteers, but ‘real problem’ is retention

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Higher pay drives surprise surge despite demographic decline and questions about combat readiness, but keeping them may be another matter


Higher pay drives surprise surge despite demographic decline and questions about combat readiness, but keeping them may be another matter.


Su Tzu-yun

Taiwan military gains 5,000 volunteers, but ‘real problem’ is retention

.css-1c6uqr6{color:inherit;font-weight:inherit;font-size:inherit;font-family:inherit;line-height:inherit;overflow-wrap:break-word;}Higher pay drives surprise surge despite demographic decline and questions about combat readiness, but keeping them may be another matter

Higher pay drives surprise surge despite demographic decline and questions about combat readiness, but keeping them may be another matter