High militarisationcan have effects on social spending and is usually in response to regionalthreats. Low militarisation comes with its own problems. Countries likethe Democratic Republic of Congo have very low militarisation, which,combined with poor Positive Peace, leads to an inability to maintainsecurity in their territory or prevent outbreaks of internal violence

Active armed services personnel comprise allservice men and women on full-time duty in the army, navy,air force and joint forces (including conscripts and long-termassignments from the reserves). Population data provided bythe EIU.