Most nations spend a serious chunk of their budget on tanks, jets, and soldiers, treating a military as something almost automatic once independence is achieved. Yet a small handful of countries decided, for very different reasons, that they simply did not need one. Some made a dramatic political choice after a war, while others never bothered building an army in the first place, leaning instead on geography, neighbors, or treaties to keep them safe.
Costa Rica: the pioneer of demilitarization
Costa Rica is usually the first name that comes up in this conversation, and for good reason. Costa Rica abolished its military in 1948 after an internal civil conflict, and the country then wrote the ban into its 1949 constitution, permanently prohibiting a standing army. The decision followed a brutal 44 day civil war that, according to multiple accounts, left roughly two thousand people dead, a heavy toll for such a small nation.
What makes Costa Rica stand out is not just the absence of an army but what replaced it. Today, national security is the responsibility of the Public Force, a national police body. The country also redirected the money it would have spent on defense, and it now hosts institutions dedicated to peace rather than conflict, since Costa Rica is also the headquarters for the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the UN’s University for Peace.
Panama: a military dissolved after invasion
Panama’s story is more recent and tied directly to a single, dramatic event. After a US invasion in 1989, Panama ended its military. The invasion removed dictator Manuel Noriega from power, and in the aftermath the country chose not to rebuild the armed forces that had helped keep him in control for years.
Rather than leaving a security vacuum, Panama built up alternative institutions instead. It now relies on police and border patrols for safety, focusing on public security rather than conventional military defence. Interestingly, those forces are not purely ceremonial, since Panama dismantled its army after the American invasion to remove the country’s military dictator, and its public security apparatus, the Panamanian Public Forces, does maintain some warfare capabilities.
Iceland: NATO’s only unarmed member
Iceland occupies a strange spot in this list because it belongs to one of the most powerful military alliances on earth while having no army of its own. Iceland is the only NATO member without a military, and unique among NATO allies, it does not have a military. This pacifist streak did not appear overnight, since Iceland has traditionally been a pacifist country, which predates its independence from Denmark in 1944.
Instead of soldiers, Iceland leans on a coast guard and its alliance commitments. Iceland has no regular military forces and only maintains the Icelandic Coast Guard, which includes both air and maritime elements, along with the Icelandic National Police. For anything beyond that, external defence is supported through Iceland’s NATO membership and a long-standing bilateral defence agreement with the United States.
Andorra: centuries without an army
Tucked into the Pyrenees mountains between two much larger powers, Andorra has gone without a formal military for an unusually long stretch of history. Andorra has had no military since at least the 13th century, relying on a small police force while France and Spain remain responsible for defense. That geographic position, sandwiched between two European heavyweights, has effectively done the job that an army might otherwise be needed for.
The arrangement is informal rather than a strict written pact in the modern sense, but it has held for centuries anyway. In between European powerhouses France and Spain, Andorra does not have a standing army, and its defence relies on treaties with its neighbours, allowing the nation to focus on tourism, governance, and economic development. Its own security needs are modest, since the country maintains a small police force of about 240 officers.
Monaco: luxury without a standing army
Monaco rounds out the list as one of the smallest and wealthiest states without an army of its own. The glamorous principality of Monaco has no military of its own, depending on France for defence, and it maintains only a small ceremonial guard while focusing on luxury tourism, finance, and sustainability. That ceremonial unit is more about tradition and pageantry than actual combat readiness.
The defense relationship with France is not just assumed, it is formalized. As one of the world’s smallest nations, Monaco does not require a standing army, and its defense is the responsibility of France, as per an existing agreement between the two countries. Day to day safety within its borders is handled differently, since the country maintains its own police force to handle internal security.
