In a world where power determines your strength and you boast about having a military, but it’s hard to believe that there are some countries who don’t have armed forces.

For most countries, the national armed force is the country’s prime weapon of defense in the face of war and other atrocities. The military in those countries is considered as the protector of the nation in times of crisis, both natural and man-made.

But, 23 sovereign nations appear to do completely fine without any military forces, with varying reasons for not having the military.

There are a few countries in the world like Iceland, Haiti, Mauritius, Monaco, Panama and Vanuatu, who, though they lack a standing army or a formally declared armed force, have other significantly large defense forces. For example, Iceland does not have a standing army since 1869, but it has a strong pact with NATO, which allows Iceland to maintain a very efficient militarized coast guard, an air defense system, a militarized peacekeeping force, and a large police force.

Check out the list below of countries with no armed forces.

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Dominica

Dominica is officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is a sovereign island Caribbean country. Since 1981, this country has no standing army.

 

 

 

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Costa Rica

Costa Rica officially the Republic of Costa Rica is a country in Central America. The constitution has forbidden a standing military in times of peace since 1949.

 

 

 

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Mauritius 

Mauritius, an Indian Ocean island nation, is known for its beaches, lagoons and reefs. A multicultural country without an army since 1968.

 

 

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Solomon Islands

Has known a heavy ethnic conflict between 1998 and 2006, in which Australia and other Pacific countries finally intervened to restore peace and order.

 

 

 

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Iceland 

The Republic of Iceland is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean. There is no standing army, but is a member of Nato.

 

 

 

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Micronesia 

Micronesia is a subregion of Oceania, comprising thousands of small islands in the western Pacific Ocean.  Defence is the responsibility of the United States in Micronesia.

 

 

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Monaco 

Monaco is a tiny independent city-state on France’s Mediterranean coastline. The country renounced its military investment in the 17th century because the expansion of ranges of artillery had rendered it defenceless.

 

 

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Vatican City

Vatican City, a city-state surrounded by Rome, Italy, is the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church. The largely ceremonial Swiss Guard acts as a security police force.

 

 

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Nauru

The island country in Micronesia which has located in the Central Pacific Nauru is another country in the world which has no armed forces and Australia is responsible for Nauru’s defense following an informal bilateral agreement between both countries.

 

 

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Marshall Islands

Marshall is the island country in the Pacific Ocean located in west of the International Date Line while geographically it is the part of the larger island group of Micronesia which is home to 68,480 inhabitants. The presidential republic in free association with the United States which is responsible for defense, subsidies, and access to U.S. based agencies.

 

 

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Grenada

Grenada is an island country contains Grenada and six smaller islands of Grenadines in southeastern Caribbean Sea, which is among those countries which hasn’t it own standing armed forces since 1983 because of an American-led invasion.

 

 

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Liechtenstein

 

Liechtenstein is a German-speaking, 25km-long principality between Austria and Switzerland. This country has no standing army since 1868.

 

 

 

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Panama

Panama is a country on the isthmus linking Central and South America. Panama has no standing army but it does have police special forces.

 

 

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Vanuatu

Vanuatu is a South Pacific Ocean nation made up of roughly 80 islands that stretch 1,300 kilometers.. Vanuatu does not have a standing army of its own.

 

 

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