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Switzerland

One of the best known and ancient militias is the Swiss Armed Forces. Switzerland has long maintained, proportionally, the second largest military force in the world, with about half the proportional amount of reserve forces of the Israeli Defense Forces, a militia of some 33% of the total population. The " militia principle " of public duties is central to Swiss political culture and not limited to military issues. For example, in most municipalities it is common to serve as a conscript fire fighter in the Compulsory Fire Department.

Article 58.1 of the April 18, 1999, Federal Constitution of the Swiss Confederation (official, French version) provides that "Switzerland has an army. It is primarily organised according to the principle of a militia." However, under the country's militia system, professional soldiers constitute about 5 percent of military personnel. In 1995, the number of soldiers was reduced to 400,000 (including reservists, amounting to some 5.6% of the population) in 2004, to 200,000 (including 80,000 reservists, or 2.5% of the population) and again in 2022, to 150,000 (including 50,000 reservists). However, the Swiss Militia continues to consist of most of the adult male population (with voluntary participation by women) who are usually issued an assault rifle which they can keep at home or store in a central arsenal and most of them have to periodically engage in combat and marksmanship training. The militia clauses of the Swiss Federal Constitution are contained in Art. 59, where it is referred to as "military service" (German: Militärdienst; French: service militaire; Italian: servizio militare; Romansh: servetsch militar).