Length of Compulsory Military Service in Selected Countries
graph from Anna Fleck/Statista; slow reveal by Jenna Laib (suggested by Susan Clark)
(Slide Deck includes notes and questions to elicit discourse)
Type of Graph: stacked bar graph
Source: Fleck, Anna. “How Long Is Compulsory Military Service?” Statista: January 5, 2023.
Paired Texts:
- Sengupta, Arjun. “With BTS’s Jin set to begin mandatory enlistment, a look at countries with conscription.” The Indian Express: November 29, 2022.
- Yung-soo, Kim. “Ask a North Korean: what’s life like in the army?” The Guardian: September 11, 2015.
- ABC News. “By The Numbers: BTS Military Service.” YouTube, October 12, 2022.
- BBC News. “Taiwan extends mandatory military service to one year – BBC News.” YouTube, December 27, 2022.
- NPR Morning Edition (A Martinez and Paul Huang). “Taiwan extends mandatory military service requirement from 4 months to 1 year.” December 28, 2022.
Potential Math Content: bar graph, stacked bar graph, ratios, proportional reasoning, estimating values, comparing values, comparing countries
Potential Content Connections: military, policy, international
Fascinating data!
Talking with newcomers from Eritrea, it sounds like the number of years there would be significantly longer. Maybe it depends on the province?
WOW. I googled conscription in Eritrea, and several sources quantified is as “indefinite.” WHAT.
According to Amnesty international, “A large proportion of the adult population of Eritrea is currently engaged in national service, which is mandatory for men and women between the ages of 18 and 50. While the service period is supposed to be 18 months, this is frequently extended indefinitely. All schoolchildren are required to complete their final year of schooling at Sawa military camp, which results in children being conscripted into military service. ”
https://www.amnesty.org/en/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/afr640012014en.pdf
https://www.hrw.org/report/2019/08/08/they-are-making-us-slaves-not-educating-us/how-indefinite-conscription-restricts
Devastating!! And it’s fascinating that Eritrea was selected as one of the sample countries, given that there are many more countries that were not included in the data visualization that have compulsory military service. I’m going to update the page with this information. Thank you to you and your students!