military service; 17 years
of age for officers (both with parental consent); conscription
legally possible in emergency, but has never been implemented (2008)

Barbados
18 years of age for voluntary military service (younger
requires parental consent); no conscription (2008)

Belarus
18-27 years of age for compulsory military service;
conscript service obligation - 18 months (2005)

Belgium
18 years of age for voluntary military service; conscription
suspended (2008)

Belize
18 years of age for voluntary military service; laws allow
for conscription only if volunteers are insufficient; conscription
has never been implemented; volunteers typically outnumber available
positions by 3:1 (2008)

Benin
21 years of age for compulsory and voluntary military service;
in practice, volunteers may be taken at the age of 18; both sexes
are eligible for military service; conscript tour of duty - 18
months (2006)

Bermuda
18-23 years of age; eligible men required to register for
conscription as needed into the Bermuda Regiment, which is largely
voluntary; term of service 39 months (2007)

Bhutan
18 years of age for voluntary military service; no
conscription (2008)

Bolivia
18 years of age for 12-month compulsory military service;
when annual number of volunteers falls short of goal, compulsory
recruitment is effected, including conscription of boys as young as
14; 15-19 years of age for voluntary premilitary service, provides
exemption from further military service (2008)

Bosnia and Herzegovina
17 years of age for voluntary military
service in the Federation and in the Republika Srpska; conscription
abolished January 2006; 4-month service obligation (2006)

Botswana
18 is the apparent age of voluntary military service; the
official qualifications for determining minimum age are unknown
(2001)

Brazil
21-45 years of age for compulsory military service; conscript
service obligation - 9 to 12 months; 17-45 years of age for
voluntary service; an increasing percentage of the ranks are
"long-service" volunteer professionals; women were allowed to serve
in the armed forces beginning in early 1980s when the Brazilian Army
became the first army in South America to accept women into career
ranks; women serve in Navy and Air Force only in Women's Reserve
Corps (2001)

Brunei
18 years of age (est.) for voluntary military service;
no