Sweden plans to reintroduce compulsory military service from 2018, eight years after it was abolished, the Guardian reports.
The Scandinavian country, which has not seen armed conflict on its territory in two centuries, ended conscription after it was deemed an unsatisfactory way of meeting the needs of a modern army.
"I hope that we are going to find a path to a more stable, robust and functional means of recruitment," the defence minister, Peter Hultqvist, said.
Approximately 4,000 18-year-olds of both sexes are expected to be called up each year.
Sweden is not a NATO member but has signed the organisation’s partnership for peace programme launched in 1994 to develop military cooperation between NATO and non-member countries.