rom 300,000 pesos to a full minimum wage: the allowance that changed who wants to serve
In 2022, the country asked eighteen-year-olds to risk their lives for 300,000 pesos a month. In 2026 they receive 1,750,900 — 100% of the minimum wage. The effect was not only economic.
Imagine a country asking an eighteen-year-old whether they are willing to defend it, even at the cost of their life. And that, when the young person says yes, it offers them three hundred thousand pesos a month. That is what happened in Colombia in 2022.
In 2026, that same young person receives 1,750,900 pesos: a full monthly legal minimum wage.
Fifteen years frozen at 15%
The scale of the change becomes clear looking backwards. Between 2002 and 2017, the monthly allowance for military and police service stayed frozen at 15% of the minimum wage, ranging from 47,700 to 108,600 pesos depending on the year. Between 2018 and 2023 it rose to 30%, where it stalled again. Real movement begins after that: 50% in 2024, at 650,000 pesos; 70% in 2025, at 996,400; and 100% in 2026, at 1,750,900.
In four years, in other words, the allowance went from less than a third of the minimum wage to the whole of it. The budget impact of that decision, in 2026 alone, is 800 billion pesos.
What that transfer means in a household
The figure reaches more than one hundred thousand families — those of the people doing military and police service. And this is where the number stops being a budget line. On three hundred thousand pesos, a soldier barely covered their own needs. On a minimum wage, they cover their own needs and then some: they send money home and they save. In units it is common to hear soldiers describe transferring part of their allowance to their parents for groceries or work supplies.
The effects nobody budgeted for
Three consequences were not on the spreadsheet and are visible today.
The first is disciplinary. When troops lacked basic items — soap, toiletries, the bare minimum — friction arose over elementary things. Once the shortage was resolved, disciplinary infractions fell sharply.
The second is selection. Recruiters once had to go looking for anyone willing to serve; in practice it was an obligation that was hard to fill. Today there are three candidates for every professional soldier position, which allows the system to select rather than accept whoever turns up.
The third is retention. More and more serving personnel ask to extend their service. That means the State keeps talent it has already trained and saves the cost of a new recruitment and training cycle. A soldier who stays is only more experienced.
