As of 2021, there were over 200,000 living United States veterans who served in the Second World War. The Department of Veteran Affairs projects that the number of living veterans will decline rapidly in the fifteen years until 2036, at which point just a few hundred Americans who served in the war will be still alive. The passing of the "Greatest Generation" is seen as symbolic by some, as for many people they represented the era when the United States' power on the world stage was at its greatest. The Second World war is particularly remembered as a "just" war in the U.S., as the United States was seen as fighting for democracy and self-determination, and against the tyrannies of Fascism, Nazism, and Japanese Imperialism.

The United States' involvement in the Second World War

World War II marked the peak in military enlistments in U.S. history, with over 16 million service members serving worldwide during the conflict. The U.S. joined the war in 1941 due to Imperial Japan's attack on the U.S. naval base at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, before joining the European theater of the war in 1944 during the Invasion of Normandy. The U.S. military played a vital role in the defeat of Nazi Germany on the Western Front in May 1945, while the Soviet Red Army defeated the Wehrmacht in the East. The U.S. was also vital in the defeat of Fascist Italy, as they had led an allied invasion force onto the Italian peninsula from Northern Africa in September 1943. The final action of the war took place in the Asian theater of war, as Imperial Japan was the last of the Axis powers to concede defeat to the Allies. The United States effectively ended the war with the dropping of two nuclear bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in August 1945, leading to as many as a quarter of a million deaths. It remains to this day the sole use of atomic weapons in an active conflict.

In 2023, 42.14 percent of U.S. men aged 75 years and over were veterans - the highest share of any age group or gender. In comparison, less than one percent of women aged 75 and over were veterans at that time.

This comprehensive report chronicles the history of women in the military and as Veterans, profiles the characteristics of women Veterans in 2009, illustrates how women Veterans in 2009 utilized some of the major benefits and services offered by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), and discusses the future of women Veterans in relation to VA. The goal of this report is to gain an understanding of who our women Veterans are, how their military service affects their post-military lives, and how they can be better served based on these insights.

In 2024, about 1.4 million veterans were living in Texas - the most out of any state. Florida, California, North Carolina, and Georgia rounded out the top five states with the highest veteran population in that year.

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.

In 2023, about 4.86 million veterans in the United States served in the Vietnam Era only. A further 485,765 American veterans served during the Korean War as of that year.

This spotlight uses 2013 National Survey on Drug Use and Health to examine the percentage of U.S. military veterans that a substance use disorder. Results are shown by the eras in which the veterans served, including post-9/11, August 1990 to August 2001, Mary 1975 to July 1990, the Vietnam era, and the pre-Vietnam era.

Provide the statistical information on the services of caring for veterans by the committee for the counseling of retired military personnel.

AimTo investigate the probability of marriage and divorce among Swedish military veterans deployed to Afghanistan relative to non-deployed matched comparators.Study design and settingMatched cohort study in Sweden.ParticipantsMilitary veterans were identified through Swedish military personnel registers regarding foreign deployments, and comparators from the Military Service Conscription Register (1969–2013). Of 1,882,411 eligible conscripts, 7041 had served in Afghanistan at some point in time between 2002 and 2013. To each military veteran, up to 5 non-deployed comparators who underwent conscription were matched by age, sex, psychological assessment, cognitive ability, psychiatric history and social characteristics. After matching there were 4896 (82%) unmarried and 1069 (18%) married deployed military veterans. The main outcome was marriage or divorce after deployment to Afghanistan. Data on marital status were retrieved from Statistics Sweden until December 31, 2014.ResultsDuring a median follow-up of 4.1 years after deployment of married individuals, 124 divorces were observed among deployed military veterans and 399 in the matched non-deployed comparator cohort (277 vs. 178 per 10,000 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio 1.61, 95%CI 1.31–1.97). During a median follow-up of 4.7 years after deployment in the unmarried cohort, 827 new marriages were observed among deployed military veterans and 4363 in the matched non-deployed comparators cohort (399 vs. 444 per 10,000 person-years; adjusted hazard ratio 0.89, 95%CI 0.83–0.96).ConclusionMilitary veterans were more likely to divorce and less likely to marry after deployment compared with matched non-deployed comparators.

Services and Support Programs for Military Service Members and Veterans, 2012-13 (PEQIS 19), is a study that is part of the Postsecondary Education Quick Information System (PEQIS) program; program data is available since 1997-98 at . PEQIS 19 (https://nces.ed.gov/peqis/) is a cross-sectional survey that collected information on the services and support programs available to students who are military service members and veterans at the institution. The study was conducted using self-administered paper-and-pencil questionnaires of a person at the postsecondary institution that is familiar with the institution programs for military service members and veterans. Key statistics produced from PEQIS 19 were services and support programs for military members and veterans.

Provide the statistics of counseling for military veterans in their pursuit of education by the Committee for the Welfare of Retired Servicemen and Veterans.

By 2034, the number of military retirees in the United States is expected to reach 2.37 million; an increase from an estimated 2.27 million retirees in 2024. Military retirement pay In the U.S., military retirement refers to pension and benefit plans for those who have accumulated 20 or more years of active service. There are different factors that influence how much is paid out to different veterans, which includes length of service, disability percentage, the year the person entered the military, and type of retirement. The total payment for military retirees is expected to continue to increase, as well as their average benefits. However, the total outlays for the military retirement trust fund is expected to fluctuate, but ultimately rise over the next decade. U.S veterans The United States has one of the largest militaries in the world based on active personnel and has the largest defense budget in the world. However, many veterans in the U.S. struggle to find a job and find affordable housing when they return from deployment due to factors such as post-traumatic stress disorder and physical disabilities. The Department of Veteran Affairs seeks to help those coming back from training or combat assimilate back into everyday life.

Description of deployed military veterans and the matched non-deployed comparators at conscription and before deployment to Afghanistan.

Provide statistics on the number of veterans participating in the Battle of 619 of the ROC Army.

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.

Other research has shown (1) that civilians and the military differ in their views about when and how to use military force; (2) that the opinions of veterans track more closely with military officers than with civilians who never served in the military; and (3) that U.S. civil–military relations shaped Cold War policy debates. We assess whether this opinion gap “matters” for the actual conduct of American foreign policy. We examine the impact of the presence of veterans in the U.S. political elite on the propensity to initiate and escalate militarized interstate disputes between 1816 and 1992. As the percentage of veterans serving in the executive branch and the legislature increases, the probability that the United States will initiate militarized disputes declines. Once a dispute has been initiated, however, the higher the proportion of veterans, the greater the level of force the United States will use in the dispute.

This dataset provides Census 2021 estimates that classify usual residents aged 16 years and over in England and Wales who have previously served in the UK armed forces by disability. The estimates are as at Census Day, 21 March 2021.

Many who have previously served in the UK armed forces will be older males because of National Service. We applied extra quality assurance to correct some answers from currently serving personnel. Read more about this quality notice.

Area type

Census 2021 statistics are published for a number of different geographies. These can be large, for example the whole of England, or small, for example an output area (OA), the lowest level of geography for which statistics are produced.

For higher levels of geography, more detailed statistics can be produced. When a lower level of geography is used, such as output areas (which have a minimum of 100 persons), the statistics produced have less detail. This is to protect the confidentiality of people and ensure that individuals or their characteristics cannot be identified.

Coverage

Census 2021 statistics are published for the whole of England and Wales. Data are also available in these geographic types:

• country - for example, Wales
• region - for example, London
• local authority - for example, Cornwall
• health area – for example, Clinical Commissioning Group
• statistical area - for example, MSOA or LSOA

UK armed forces veteran indicator

Identifies people who have previously served in the UK armed forces. This includes those who have served for at least one day in armed forces, either regular or reserves, or Merchant Mariners who have seen duty on legally defined military operations.

Disability - Equality act disabled

People who assessed their day-to-day activities as limited by long-term physical or mental health conditions or illnesses are considered disabled. This definition of a disabled person meets the harmonised standard for measuring disability and is in line with the Equality Act (2010).

Data on military service status by industry subsectors - North American Industry Classification System (NAICS) 2017, occupation - National Occupational Classification (NOC) 2021, work activity during the reference year, age and gender for the population aged 17 and over who worked since 2020, in private households, Canada, provinces and territories.

Provide statistical information on medical counseling for honorably discharged veterans, provided by the Veterans Affairs Counseling Committee for Retired and Discharged Military Personnel.

Almost 83 percent of veterans and service members who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound while serving in the military on or after September 11, 2001 and who responded to the annual Wounded Warrior Project Survey in 2023 stated they experienced sleep problems, while 76.5 percent had PTSD. The Wounded Warrior Project (WWP) is a U.S. charity and veteran organization for veterans and service members who incurred a physical or mental injury, illness, or wound while serving in the military on or after September 11, 2001.