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.

This statistic shows the share of women and men in the U.S. Military in 2010 by branch. In 2010, 37 percent of all active-duty enlisted women were part of the Army. The total number of military personnel in the U.S. Army can be found here.

Across all branches of the U.S. military, men were more likely to be officers than women. In 2023, there were 75,077 male officers in the U.S. Army, compared to 17,709 female officers. This contrast was even more stark in the Marine Corps, where there were 19,074 male officers and 2,171 female officers.

The graph illustrates the number of personnel in each branch of the U.S. Military for the year 2024. The x-axis lists the military branches: Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Air Force, Space Force, and Coast Guard. The y-axis represents the number of personnel, ranging from 9,446 to 449,816. Among the branches, the Army has the highest number of personnel with 449,816, followed by the Navy with 332,336 and the Air Force with 315,958. The Marine Corps and Coast Guard have 173,096 and 40,612 personnel, respectively, while the Space Force has the lowest number at 9,446. The data is displayed in a bar graph format, effectively highlighting the distribution of military personnel across the different branches.

During the Second World War, a total of approximately 342,000 women served in the United States military in some capacity. Some of these were enlisted in various branches of the military, while others were part of civilian organizations who provided voluntary assistance to the Armed Forces. The majority of these women remained in the U.S. for the duration of the war, in roles such as communications, engineering, and administration. American women overseas were not permitted to take part in active combat, but they played an indispensable role in keeping supply lines moving, while volunteer nurses saved countless lives near or on the frontlines (sometimes on active battlefields).

Women's Army Corps

Almost half (44 percent) of these women were enlisted in the Women's Army Corps (WAC). President Roosevelt signed a bill into law in May 1942, creating the WAC - a goal of 25,000 enlistments was set for the first year, but interest was so high that a limit of 150,000 was later introduced, and quickly met. Women were primarily seen as substitutes for men at home, as every female enlistment allowed one male soldier to take up a combat role. Women's roles were then expanded during the war, and physical and weapons trainings were provided so they could replace men if necessary. Women quickly gained prominent supporters among leading generals and military organizations, with the Air Force in particular advocating for increased female involvement - yet, society at large was less welcoming.

Backlash

Many women, especially wives of servicemen or those in towns with army bases, felt threatened by large numbers of young women enlisting. Volunteers were accused of sexual promiscuity, prostitution, and lesbianism. Servicemen often dissuaded their partners or sisters from volunteering, for fear of such accusations, while other men were opposed as they felt the presence of women weakened or emasculated their own position. Prominent journalists and religious organizations also repeated such sentiments, creating negative nationwide sentiments towards female volunteers. However, no investigations found evidence of these activities on a scale that warranted such hysteria, and military leaders pushed for further female participation in the military after the war's conclusion. Today, women make up just over one-sixth of the U.S. Armed Forces personnel.

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.

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.

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.

In the fiscal year of 2019, 25.14 percent of all active-duty enlisted women were employed as administrators. A further 14.79 percent of active-duty women were employed in the medical field, as compared to 5.75 percent of men.

In the United States, active duty Armed Forces personnel tended to be young, with the majority under the age of 30 years old. In 2023, there were 546,361 U.S. Defense Armed personnel aged 25 and under. In the age group 26 to 30, there were 275,756 Armed Forces personnel.

A dataset to advance the study of life-cycle interactions of biomedical and socioeconomic factors in the aging process. The EI project has assembled a variety of large datasets covering the life histories of approximately 39,616 white male volunteers (drawn from a random sample of 331 companies) who served in the Union Army (UA), and of about 6,000 African-American veterans from 51 randomly selected United States Colored Troops companies (USCT). Their military records were linked to pension and medical records that detailed the soldiers������?? health status and socioeconomic and family characteristics. Each soldier was searched for in the US decennial census for the years in which they were most likely to be found alive (1850, 1860, 1880, 1900, 1910). In addition, a sample consisting of 70,000 men examined for service in the Union Army between September 1864 and April 1865 has been assembled and linked only to census records. These records will be useful for life-cycle comparisons of those accepted and rejected for service. Military Data: The military service and wartime medical histories of the UA and USCT men were collected from the Union Army and United States Colored Troops military service records, carded medical records, and other wartime documents. Pension Data: Wherever possible, the UA and USCT samples have been linked to pension records, including surgeon''''s certificates. About 70% of men in the Union Army sample have a pension. These records provide the bulk of the socioeconomic and demographic information on these men from the late 1800s through the early 1900s, including family structure and employment information. In addition, the surgeon''''s certificates provide rich medical histories, with an average of 5 examinations per linked recruit for the UA, and about 2.5 exams per USCT recruit. Census Data: Both early and late-age familial and socioeconomic information is collected from the manuscript schedules of the federal censuses of 1850, 1860, 1870 (incomplete), 1880, 1900, and 1910. Data Availability: All of the datasets (Military Union Army; linked Census; Surgeon''''s Certificates; Examination Records, and supporting ecological and environmental variables) are publicly available from ICPSR. In addition, copies on CD-ROM may be obtained from the CPE, which also maintains an interactive Internet Data Archive and Documentation Library, which can be accessed on the Project Website. * Dates of Study: 1850-1910 * Study Features: Longitudinal, Minority Oversamples * Sample Size: ** Union Army: 35,747 ** Colored Troops: 6,187 ** Examination Sample: 70,800 ICPSR Link: http://www.icpsr.umich.edu/icpsrweb/ICPSR/studies/06836

a: Multivariate analysis of Verbal SH, Sexual Assault, and MST in the military work environment in the last 12 months among men. b: Multivariate analysis of Verbal SH, Sexual Assault Sexual Oppression and MST in the military work environment in the last 12 months among women.

In 2022, approximately 226,293 active duty personnel in the United States Department of Defense were Black or African American. Furthermore, another 897,340 active duty DoD personnel were white in that year, making up around 68.8 percent of the total number.

The American Civil War is the conflict with the largest number of American military fatalities in history. In fact, the Civil War's death toll is comparable to all other major wars combined, the deadliest of which were the World Wars, which have a combined death toll of more than 520,000 American fatalities. The ongoing series of conflicts and interventions in the Middle East and North Africa, collectively referred to as the War on Terror in the west, has a combined death toll of more than 7,000 for the U.S. military since 2001. Other records In terms of the number of deaths per day, the American Civil War is still at the top, with an average of 425 deaths per day, while the First and Second World Wars have averages of roughly 100 and 200 fatalities per day respectively. Technically, the costliest battle in U.S. military history was the Battle of Elsenborn Ridge, which was a part of the Battle of the Bulge in the Second World War, and saw upwards of 5,000 deaths over 10 days. However, the Battle of Gettysburg had more military fatalities of American soldiers, with almost 3,200 Union deaths and over 3,900 Confederate deaths, giving a combined total of more than 7,000. The Battle of Antietam is viewed as the bloodiest day in American military history, with over 3,600 combined fatalities and almost 23,000 total casualties on September 17, 1862. Revised Civil War figures For more than a century, the total death toll of the American Civil War was generally accepted to be around 620,000, a number which was first proposed by Union historians William F. Fox and Thomas L. Livermore in 1888. This number was calculated by using enlistment figures, battle reports, and census data, however many prominent historians since then have thought the number should be higher. In 2011, historian J. David Hacker conducted further investigations and claimed that the number was closer to 750,000 (and possibly as high as 850,000). While many Civil War historians agree that this is possible, and even likely, obtaining consistently accurate figures has proven to be impossible until now; both sides were poor at keeping detailed records throughout the war, and much of the Confederacy's records were lost by the war's end. Many Confederate widows also did not register their husbands death with the authorities, as they would have then been ineligible for benefits.

Petition subject: Military companies Original: http://nrs.harvard.edu/urn-3:FHCL:11666565 Date of creation: (unknown) Petition location: Boston Legislator, committee, or address that the petition was sent to: Charles E. Pike, Newton; committee on the militia Selected signatures:Robert Morris Actions taken on dates: 1856-04-08,1856-04-11,1856-04-12 Legislative action: Received in the House on April 8, 1856 and referred to the committee on the militia and sent for concurrence and received in the Senate on April 11, 1856 and laid on the table and received in the Senate on April 12, 1856 and taken from table and nonconcurred Total signatures: 1 Legislative action summary: Received, referred, sent, received, laid on the table, received, taken from table, nonconcurred Males of color signatures: 1 Female only signatures: No Identifications of signatories: memorialist, attorney for petitioners, [males of color], ["in behalf of Jonas W. Clark and others"] Prayer format was printed vs. manuscript: Manuscript Additional non-petition or unrelated documents available at archive: no additional documents Additional archivist notes: Jonas W. Clark and thirty three others, charter or right to form a military company among the coloured young men of the city of Boston, specially requested a hearing, leave to withdraw, George H. Devereux, chairman, Massasoit Guards, United States Law of 1794, free able bodied white citizens, 17 Rail Road Exchange, specially solicited a hearing, improper and unjust and contrary to all former precedents, Governor, Ohio and Rhode Island have granted to the coloured young men resident therein just such a right as we ask our state to grant to us, military corps, Cincinnati, Providence, report, instead of being conclusive and precluding argument admit of a plain and easy reply, convention of 1853, Henry K. Oliver, voluntary and not compulsory service, volunteer militia, debate, Nathaniel P. Banks, extinction of the old system, 1840, citizen soldiers, Louisburg, French War, conquest of Canada, Revolutionary War, War of 1812, John Adams, Colonel Greene, fort at Red Bank, Count Donop, Carl von Donop, 1777, General Andrew Jackson, Louisiana, Great Britain, noble hearted generous freemen of colour, Americans, sons of freedom, Alfred G. Howard, John V. De Grasse, Benjamin C. Gregory, Independent Military Company, 48 men, Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Location of the petition at the Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth: Senate Unpassed 1856, Docket 18524 Acknowledgements: Supported by the National Endowment for the Humanities (PW-5105612), Massachusetts Archives of the Commonwealth, Radcliffe Institute for Advanced Study at Harvard University, Center for American Political Studies at Harvard University, Institutional Development Initiative at Harvard University, and Harvard University Library.

There were 449,344 active duty U.S. Army members in 2023. This amount represents a slight decrease in comparison to the number recorded in the previous year. Overall, there were 1.27 million active duty U.S. Department of Defense members, including officers and enlisted personnel in 2023.

Incidence rates of selected digestive cancers in the U.S. active-duty military and U.S. general population, ages 20–59, 1990–2013.

The United States military conscripted approximately 1.9 million service personnel into their ranks over the course of the Vietnam War. Commonly known as the draft, conscription had been conducted in the U.S. through the Selective Service System (SSS) since 1917. Initially, the draft was conducted using a random ballot by the SSS. When a person was called up by the draft, they had to report to their local draft board to evaluate their draft status. The various exemptions which draft-eligible men could use to avoid service, such as still being in university education or being medically unfit, were thought to allow better-connected and middle class men to evade the draft more easily than working class or minority men. The SSS responded to criticism of the draft system by conducting draft lotteries beginning in 1969. These draft lotteries were conducted based on birth dates, with the probability of conscription being higher for those men with birth dates which were selected earlier in the lottery. The lotteries were televised events, with millions of Americans tuning in. Opposition and the end of the draft
Conscription fueled anti-war attitudes among the public in the United States, particularly among young men eligible for service and student protesters on university campuses. Anti-war student groups began to organize events where students were encouraged to burn their draft cards in an act of defiance. Resistance to the draft grew throughout the conflict, with more people filing as conscientious objectors to the war in 1972 than actual inductees via the draft. Some of those who could not evade being drafted through the various exemptions available chose to flee the United States to countries such as Canada. Recent estimates suggest up to 100,000 men left the U.S. during this period for this reason. Due to the draft's role in driving anti-war sentiment, civil disobedience making its use untenable, and growing evidence that an all-volunteer military would be more effective, Richard Nixon campaigned in the 1968 presidential election to abolish the draft. The draft was finally ended in 1973, with the last conscripted men entering the U.S. military on June 30 of that year.

In 2024, there were estimated to be approximately 35,068 active-duty United States military personnel in Germany, the highest of any European country.

At the end of the fiscal year of 2024, it is estimated that there will be 15 Generals serving the United States Army, and a total of 354,948 enlisted personnel. Military personnel The military departments in the United States are: the U.S. Army, the U.S. Navy, the U.S. Air Force, the U.S. Marine Corps, and the U.S. Coast Guards. The President of the United States is the military’s overall head and forms the military policy with the U.S. Department of Defense. The U.S. military is one of the largest militaries in term of number of personnel.

The largest branch of the United States Armed Forces is the United States Army. The United States Army is responsible for land-based military operations. The active duty U.S. Army personnel number has decreased from 2010 to 2021. In 2010, there were 561,979 active duty U.S. Army members, as compared to 482,416 in 2021.

The number of active duty U.S. Navy personnel has decreased slowly over the past 20 years. In 2021, there were 343,223 active duty Navy members in the United States Navy. The United States Navy personnel are enlisted sailors, commissioned officers, and midshipmen. Sailors have to take part in Personnel Qualification Standards, to prove that they have mastered skills.

The United States Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the United States. The active duty U.S. Air Force personnel numbers also decreased between 1995 and 2015, although has started to increase slightly since 2015. The number decreased again in 2021, when the Air Force had 328,888 personnel.