In the fiscal year of 2019, 21.39 percent of active-duty enlisted women were of Hispanic origin. The total number of active duty military personnel in 2019 amounted to 1.3 million people.

Ethnicities in the United States The United States is known around the world for the diversity of its population. The Census recognizes six different racial and ethnic categories: White American, Native American and Alaska Native, Asian American, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander. People of Hispanic or Latino origin are classified as a racially diverse ethnicity.

The largest part of the population, about 61.3 percent, is composed of White Americans. The largest minority in the country are Hispanics with a share of 17.8 percent of the population, followed by Black or African Americans with 13.3 percent. Life in the U.S. and ethnicity However, life in the United States seems to be rather different depending on the race or ethnicity that you belong to. For instance: In 2019, native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders had the highest birth rate of 58 per 1,000 women, while the birth rae of white alone, non Hispanic women was 49 children per 1,000 women.

The Black population living in the United States has the highest poverty rate with of all Census races and ethnicities in the United States. About 19.5 percent of the Black population was living with an income lower than the 2020 poverty threshold. The Asian population has the smallest poverty rate in the United States, with about 8.1 percent living in poverty.

The median annual family income in the United States in 2020 earned by Black families was about 57,476 U.S. dollars, while the average family income earned by the Asian population was about 109,448 U.S. dollars. This is more than 25,000 U.S. dollars higher than the U.S. average family income, which was 84,008 U.S. dollars.

In April 2024, 13.1% of people in non-officer roles in the armed forces were from ethnic minorities, compared with 7.9% in April 2012.

This statistic shows the number of Army National Guard members in the United States from 1995 to 2010 by ethnic group. The Army National Guard had 291,000 white and 48,000 black members in 2010.

This dataset contains demographic information on every member of the US armed forces including gender, race, and rank.

Acknowlegement

Original Data

Foto von israel palacio auf Unsplash

In 2023, there were almost *********** Black or African American veterans in the United States, representing around ** percent of the total veteran population.

The U.S. Army remains the largest branch of the American military, with 449,344 active duty personnel in 2023. While the Army leads in numbers, the newly established Space Force had just 8,879 active duty members, highlighting the evolving nature of modern warfare and the increasing importance of space-based capabilities. Confidence in military remains high Despite fluctuations in force size, public trust in the U.S. military remains strong. In 2024, 61 percent of Americans expressed a great deal or quite a lot of confidence in the armed forces, a slight increase from the previous year. While a slightly higher share of Republicans have shown more confidence in the military, trust in the institution remains high across party lines. Global commitments The United States continues to invest heavily in its military capabilities, with defense spending reaching 916.02 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. This substantial budget supports not only domestic defense needs but also enables the U.S. to respond to global crises, as evidenced by the over 40 billion euros in military aid provided to Ukraine following Russia's invasion. The high level of spending, which translates to about 2,220 U.S. dollars per capita.

Graph and download economic data for Total Population: All Ages including Armed Forces Overseas (POP) from Jan 1952 to Dec 2025 about population and USA.

The graph illustrates the number of personnel in each branch of the U.S. Military for the year 2025. The x-axis lists the military branches: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, and Coast Guard. The y-axis represents the number of personnel, ranging from 41,689 to 452,823. Among the branches, the Army has the highest number of personnel with 452,823, followed by the Navy with 337,209 and the Air Force with 321,211. The Marine Corps and Coast Guard have 170,201 and 41,689 personnel, respectively. The data is displayed in a bar graph format, effectively highlighting the distribution of military personnel across the different branches.

United States - Total Population: All Ages including Armed Forces Overseas was 343157.45000 Thous. in December of 2025, according to the United States Federal Reserve. Historically, United States - Total Population: All Ages including Armed Forces Overseas reached a record high of 343157.45000 in December of 2025 and a record low of 156309.00000 in January of 1952. Trading Economics provides the current actual value, an historical data chart and related indicators for United States - Total Population: All Ages including Armed Forces Overseas - last updated from the United States Federal Reserve on December of 2025.

In 2022, approximately ******* active duty personnel in the United States Department of Defense were Black or African American. Furthermore, another ******* active duty DoD personnel were white in that year, making up around **** percent of the total number.

This scatter chart displays population (people) against armed forces personnel (people) in the Americas. The data is about regions.

Context

Veteran Employment Outcomes (VEO) are new experimental U.S. Census Bureau statistics on labor market outcomes for recently discharged Army veterans. These statistics are tabulated by military specialization, service characteristics, employer industry (if employed), and veteran demographics. They are generated by matching service member information with a national database of jobs, using state-of-the-art confidentiality protection mechanisms to protect the underlying data.

https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/veo_experimental.html

Content

"The VEO are made possible through data sharing partnerships between the U.S. Army, State Labor Market Information offices, and the U.S. Census Bureau. VEO data are currently available at the state and national level."

"Veteran Employment Outcomes (VEO) are experimental tabulations developed by the Longitudinal Employer-Household Dynamics (LEHD) program in collaboration with the U.S. Army and state agencies. VEO data provides earnings and employment outcomes for Army veterans by rank and military occupation, as well as veteran and employer characteristics. VEO are currently released as a research data product in "experimental" form."

"The source of veteran information in the VEO is administrative record data from the Department of the Army, Office of Economic and Manpower Analysis. This personnel data contains fields on service member characteristics, such as service start and end dates, occupation, pay grade, characteristics at entry (e.g. education and test scores), and demographic characteristics (e.g. sex, race, and ethnicity). Once service member records are transferred to the Census Bureau, personally-identifying information is stripped and veterans are assigned a Protected Identification Key (PIK) that allows for them to be matched with their employment outcomes in Census Bureau jobs data."

Earnings, and Employment Concepts

Earnings "Earnings are total annual earnings for attached workers from all jobs, converted to 2018 dollars using the CPI-U. For the annual earnings tabulations, we impose two labor force attachment restrictions. First, we drop veterans who earn less than the annual equivalent of full-time work at the prevailing federal minimum wage. Additionally, we drop veterans with two or more quarters with no earnings in the reference year. These workers are likely to be either marginally attached to the labor force or employed in non-covered employment."

Employment

"While most VEO tabulations include earnings from all jobs, tabulations by employer characteristics only consider the veteran's main job for that year. Main jobs are defined as the job for which veterans had the highest earnings in the reference year. To attach employer characteristics to that job, we assign industry and geography from the highest earnings quarter with that employer in the year. For multi-establishment firms, we use LEHD unit-to-worker imputations to assign workers to establishments, and then assign industry and geography."

https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/veo_experimental.html

Acknowledgements

United States Census Bureau

https://lehd.ces.census.gov/data/veo_experimental.html

Photo by Robert Linder on Unsplash

Inspiration

U.S. Veterans.

Monthly Intercensal Estimates of the Resident plus Armed Forces Overseas Population by Single Year of Age and Sex: April 1, 1990 to April 1, 2000 // Source: U.S. Census Bureau, Population Division // For detailed information about the methods used to create the intercensal population estimates, see https://www.census.gov/popest/methodology/intercensal_nat_meth.pdf. // The Census Bureau's Population Estimates Program produces intercensal estimates each decade by adjusting the existing time series of postcensal estimates for a decade to smooth the transition from one decennial census count to the next. They differ from the postcensal estimates that are released annually because they rely on a formula that redistributes the difference between the April 1 postcensal estimate and April 1 census count for the end of the decade across the estimates for that decade. Meanwhile, the postcensal estimates incorporate current data on births, deaths, and migration to produce each new vintage of estimates, and to revise estimates for years back to the last census. The Population Estimates Program provides additional information including historical and postcensal estimates, evaluation estimates, demographic analysis, and research papers on its website: https://www.census.gov/popest/index.html.

Comprehensive demographic dataset for Military Reservation, Buckeye, AZ, US including population statistics, household income, housing units, education levels, employment data, and transportation with year-over-year changes.

Data on military service status by visible minority, religion, generation status, age and gender for the population aged 17 years and over in private households in Canada, provinces and territories, census metropolitan areas and census agglomerations with parts.

In 2023, around 21.3 percent of active duty officers in the United States Navy were women. Additionally, approximately 19.4 percent of officers in the Space Force were women.

Nigeria NG: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data was reported at 0.349 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.358 % for 2015. Nigeria NG: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data is updated yearly, averaging 0.324 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2016, with 27 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.412 % in 2001 and a record low of 0.238 % in 1993. Nigeria NG: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Nigeria – Table NG.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces. Labor force comprises all people who meet the International Labour Organization's definition of the economically active population.; ; International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance.; Weighted average; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

This scatter chart displays armed forces personnel (people) against male population (people) in Africa. The data is about countries.

Ghana GH: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data was reported at 0.117 % in 2016. This records a decrease from the previous number of 0.120 % for 2015. Ghana GH: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data is updated yearly, averaging 0.118 % from Dec 1990 (Median) to 2016, with 26 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 0.196 % in 1996 and a record low of 0.073 % in 2005. Ghana GH: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ghana – Table GH.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces. Labor force comprises all people who meet the International Labour Organization's definition of the economically active population.; ; International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance.; Weighted average; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.

Ukraine UA: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data was reported at 1.406 % in 2016. This records an increase from the previous number of 1.223 % for 2015. Ukraine UA: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data is updated yearly, averaging 1.406 % from Dec 1992 (Median) to 2016, with 25 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 2.101 % in 1995 and a record low of 0.563 % in 2013. Ukraine UA: Armed Forces Personnel: % of Total Labour Force data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s Ukraine – Table UA.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Armed forces personnel are active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if the training, organization, equipment, and control suggest they may be used to support or replace regular military forces. Labor force comprises all people who meet the International Labour Organization's definition of the economically active population.; ; International Institute for Strategic Studies, The Military Balance.; Weighted average; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates.