The Swedish Parliament decided in May 2010 that the conscription would be abolished and replaced with an all voluntary force acc. The decision was based on the aim for a defence with high readiness and an increased capacity for international operations. This, together with a reduced need to maintain a numerically large defence organiation made the abolition of the applied conscription in favor of voluntariness a natural step. The Swedish experience of voluntarily recruited soldiers are limited why the Ministry of Defence asked FOI to study international experiences and use these experiences to analyze the recruitment and retention options and costs. FOI has also been asked to assess the economic impact of changes in manpower supply in the Swedish defence why an economic assessment of the economic planning assumptions has been performed. This report contains the results of these studies.