Estonia.

This is coolbert:

From a recent issue of the National Geographic: It seems that not only Russia is suffering from a lack of physically fit young men to serve in the military. Ukraine is in the same boat. Demographics are really negative in the whole of eastern Europe. Ukraine is not an exception.

Consider this:

"Ukraine suffers from the lowest birthrate in Europe. With deaths outpacing births by a factor of two, the current population of 46 million is projected to drop by as much as 46 percent [%] by 2050. Old plagues such as alcoholism and smoking, as well as new challenges such as drug-resistant tuberculosis, loom large.

But HIV/AIDS casts the darkest specter. In 1994 there were 223 registered cases of HIV in Ukraine. By 2003 the number exceeded 68,000. The actual number may be more than 600,000, surpassing prevalency rates in India, China, and the rest of Europe . . . Beyond the human cost, the epidemic will tax the economy."

Ukraine will NOT have an adequate manpower pool to fill military needs. Same as Russia. Declining population with no end or amelioration in sight.

Surprisingly, even in a nation such as Estonia, problems also exist with finding an adequate number of physically and mentally fit youth to man the military. Estonia is a very small nation. Their newly formed military consists of a total force of nine battalions. NOT A BIG MILITARY. Miniscule. And yet, even in a nation relatively untouched by "plagues" such as AIDS, about 51 % of the eligible draft age young Estonian men are UNFIT for military service.

"males age 18-49: 200,382 (in 2004, 51% of the young men called up for service were determined to be unfit; main obstacles to conscription were psychiatric and behavioral)" [source, CIA factbook!]

This is very similar to statistics found in the U.S. We may have a universal constant of some sort at work here?

Major "Mad Mike" Williams, the American officer [2IC] of Grey's Scouts, the Rhodesian cavalry unit, remarked on one occasion that he was constantly amazed at the relative BETTER physical fitness of Rhodesian young men as compared to a similar group of American young men. Why would this be? My guess would be that those Rhodesian young men were from farming backgrounds. Accustomed to hard labor out-of-doors. Something NOT found in the U.S. any more.

coolbert.