The Citizenship in Society Merit Badge will be discontinued effective Friday, February 27, 2026.
Beginning on February 27, 2026, Scouts will no longer be able to start requirements on the Citizenship in Society Merit Badge. Those Scouts who had already started and completed any requirements for the merit badge will be allowed the rest of 2026 to complete the full merit badge and still utilize it for attaining the rank of Eagle Scout. This will only be allowed for those attaining Eagle Scout; any other Scouts who started requirements for the merit badge will not be allowed to earn the merit badge after the discontinuance date. This has been standard practice for Eagle requirements and other advancement changes in the past.
Effective Feb. 27, 2026, the rank of Eagle Scout will have 13 required merit badges instead of 14. All of the remaining 13 Eagle Required merit badges will still apply, just not Citizenship in Society, but Scouts will have 8 elective merit badges from which to choose instead of 7, and the total for Eagle Scout will remain at 21 merit badges (13 required + 8 elective = 21 merit badges).
Council & District Advancement Chairs as well as Council Registrars have the ability to allow the Citizenship in Society Merit Badge to count towards Eagle Scout for those few Life Scouts who started the requirements prior to the discontinuance date and will complete the merit badge before Dec. 31, 2026.