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.

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.

Throughout the 19th century, the share of military personnel employed by the United States government was below 0.2 percent of the total population in most years. There were noticeable spikes in enlistments and conscriptions during the American Civil War (1861-65), the First World War (1917-18*), and Second World War (1941-45*), as well as smaller increases during the Mexican-American War (1946-48) and the Spanish-American War (1898), but figures were generally much lower than the post-WWII era.

Following the Second World War, the United States abandoned many of its isolationist positions as it sought to become the world's leading superpower. This involved stationing millions of troops in overseas bases during the Cold War, in strategically important locations such as West Germany, Japan, and Taiwan. Additionally, involvement in conflicts such as the Korean War (1950-1953) and Vietnam War (1964-1973*) kept military employment high, usually between 1-2 percent until the 1970s. Figures remained just below the one percent mark until the 1990s, when the end of the Cold War and the growing influence of technology in conventional warfare saw a decrease in demand for many traditional combat roles. Despite U.S. involvement in a number of overseas conflicts in the 21st century, military personnel represented less than 0.5 percent of the total population in most years between 2000 and 2016.

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 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.

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 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.

At the end of the fiscal year of 2024, it is estimated that there will be ** Generals serving the United States Army, and a total of ******* 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 ******* active duty U.S. Army members, as compared to ******* in 2021. The number of active duty U.S. Navy personnel has decreased slowly over the past 20 years. In 2021, there were ******* 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 ******* personnel.

This dataset displays the number of active duty personnel and their location, by country. Included in these figures are the numbers for Army, Navy, Marine, and Air Force branches of the United States Military. Note: this data includes rounded figures for personnel involved in Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF)and Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF). This data was collected from the department of Defense directly at: http://siadapp.dmdc.osd.mil/personnel/MILITARY/history/hst0706.pdf .

The World War II Enlistment and Casualty Records data set contains individual-level information on soldiers who were drafted or volunteered for service in the U.S. armed forces during World War II. The repository consists of three files: The digitized list of fallen soldiers who served in the U.S. Army or Army Air Force by name, state, and county of residence (300,131 observations) The digitized list of fallen soldiers who served in the U.S. Navy, Marine Corps, or Coast Guard by name, state, and county of residence (65,507 observations) The World War II Army and Army Air Force Enlistment records which were merged with the list of fallen soldiers (8,293,187 observations)

This data consists of three files:lists of all enlisted applicants, contracts, and accessions to the US military from October 2000 to September 2010, as well as a small Excel file that serves as a data dictionary. Individuals are identified only by 3 digit ZIP codes, and do not contain an individual identifier so they cannot be reliably tracked across stages of enlistment. The data was obtained through Freedom of Information Act request 11-F-0024, filed by Garret Christensen in 2010. The only documentation provided with the request is included here, in the Excel file.

In 2023, there were around 1.11 million active duty U.S. Armed Forces personnel stationed within the United States. In that year, there were 156,418 U.S. Armed Forces personnel stationed in California, the most of any state.

These instructional materials were prepared for use with UNION ARMY RECRUITS IN BLACK REGIMENTS IN THE UNITED STATES, 1862-1865 (ICPSR 9426), compiled by Jacob Metzer and Robert A. Margo. The data file and accompanying documentation are provided to assist educators in instructing students about the demographic, military, and medical history of African-American men who volunteered for service in the Union Army during the American Civil War. An instructor's handout has also been included. This handout contains the following sections, among others: (1) General goals for student analysis of quantitative datasets, (2) Specific goals in studying this dataset, (3) Suggested appropriate courses for use of the dataset, (4) Tips for using the dataset, and (5) Related secondary source readings. This data collection was designed to examine the characteristics of free Blacks and ex-slaves mustered into the Union Army between 1862 and the end of the Civil War. In addition to variables on personal characteristics (such as skin, eye, and hair color, height, age, birthplace, and occupation before enlistment), the data also contain Army-related variables (such as regiment and company number, rank, enlistment date and place, changes in rank, and date and cause of end of service).

The Military Bases dataset was last updated on October 23, 2024 and are defined by Fiscal Year 2023 data, from the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment and is part of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USDOT)/Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS) National Transportation Atlas Database (NTAD). The dataset depicts the authoritative locations of the most commonly known Department of Defense (DoD) sites, installations, ranges, and training areas world-wide. These sites encompass land which is federally owned or otherwise managed. This dataset was created from source data provided by the four Military Service Component headquarters and was compiled by the Defense Installation Spatial Data Infrastructure (DISDI) Program within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Energy, Installations, and Environment. Only sites reported in the BSR or released in a map supplementing the Foreign Investment Risk Review Modernization Act of 2018 (FIRRMA) Real Estate Regulation (31 CFR Part 802) were considered for inclusion. This list does not necessarily represent a comprehensive collection of all Department of Defense facilities. For inventory purposes, installations are comprised of sites, where a site is defined as a specific geographic location of federally owned or managed land and is assigned to military installation. DoD installations are commonly referred to as a base, camp, post, station, yard, center, homeport facility for any ship, or other activity under the jurisdiction, custody, control of the DoD. While every attempt has been made to provide the best available data quality, this data set is intended for use at mapping scales between 1:50,000 and 1:3,000,000. For this reason, boundaries in this data set may not perfectly align with DoD site boundaries depicted in other federal data sources. Maps produced at a scale of 1:50,000 or smaller which otherwise comply with National Map Accuracy Standards, will remain compliant when this data is incorporated. Boundary data is most suitable for larger scale maps; point locations are better suited for mapping scales between 1:250,000 and 1:3,000,000. If a site is part of a Joint Base (effective/designated on 1 October, 2010) as established under the 2005 Base Realignment and Closure process, it is attributed with the name of the Joint Base. All sites comprising a Joint Base are also attributed to the responsible DoD Component, which is not necessarily the pre-2005 Component responsible for the site. A data dictionary, or other source of attribute information, is accessible at https://doi.org/10.21949/1529039

The VIERS Military History service provides Veteran military history information that is consolidated across multiple data sources. This consolidated data is provided as part of the VRM initiative to improve the speed, accuracy and efficiency with which information is exchanged between Veterans and VA. This information is exposed to the VIERS Consumers via a SOAP based web service. It queries the VA/DoD Identity Repository (VADIR) and Corporate Database (CorpDB) repositories to retrieves electronic copies of military service information including periods of service, periods of captivity, and military pay. The VRM VIERS Military History Service also provides the capability to update the VA data repositories with unverified periods of service and unverified periods of captivity. Service provides a view of all military history to date(historical, current, retirement, Line of Duty/WII) for a partiular person such as branch, entry dates, separation dates, discharge characters. Provide definitive view of Veterans Military Service Information- Read access to veteran military service information (electronic DD-214/215)- Current member DoD affiliation status and information (Active duty, Guard/Reserve, Retired, Dependent)- DoD Eligibility and Entitlement (Insurance, Education)- DFAS Military Payments (severance, separation, retirement)- Supports submission by veterans of supplemental evidence of service (Vietnam Era)- Medals, awards

United States US: Military Expenditure data was reported at 609.758 USD bn in 2017. This records an increase from the previous number of 600.106 USD bn for 2016. United States US: Military Expenditure data is updated yearly, averaging 277.591 USD bn from Sep 1960 (Median) to 2017, with 58 observations. The data reached an all-time high of 711.338 USD bn in 2011 and a record low of 45.380 USD bn in 1960. United States US: Military Expenditure data remains active status in CEIC and is reported by World Bank. The data is categorized under Global Database’s United States – Table US.World Bank.WDI: Defense and Official Development Assistance. Military expenditures data from SIPRI are derived from the NATO definition, which includes all current and capital expenditures on the armed forces, including peacekeeping forces; defense ministries and other government agencies engaged in defense projects; paramilitary forces, if these are judged to be trained and equipped for military operations; and military space activities. Such expenditures include military and civil personnel, including retirement pensions of military personnel and social services for personnel; operation and maintenance; procurement; military research and development; and military aid (in the military expenditures of the donor country). Excluded are civil defense and current expenditures for previous military activities, such as for veterans' benefits, demobilization, conversion, and destruction of weapons. This definition cannot be applied for all countries, however, since that would require much more detailed information than is available about what is included in military budgets and off-budget military expenditure items. (For example, military budgets might or might not cover civil defense, reserves and auxiliary forces, police and paramilitary forces, dual-purpose forces such as military and civilian police, military grants in kind, pensions for military personnel, and social security contributions paid by one part of government to another.); ; Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI), Yearbook: Armaments, Disarmament and International Security.; ; Data for some countries are based on partial or uncertain data or rough estimates. For additional details please refer to the military expenditure database on the SIPRI website: https://sipri.org/databases/milex

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

The map data is derived from the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) for the years ranging from 1989 to 1999. The map shows the concentration of the total military personnel by country measured in number of people. According to UNEP, military personnel refers to "active duty military personnel, including paramilitary forces if those forces resemble regular units in their organization, equipment, training, or mission." Online resource: http://geodata.grid.unep.ch URL original source: http://www.worldbank.org/data/

This report presents findings from the 2015 National Survey on Drug Use and Health (NSDUH) with a focus on comparing estimates related to substance use and mental health for military family members (spouses and children) with general population estimates. The numbers of military family members included in the 2015 NSDUH were relatively small. As a consequence, the report focuses on wives aged 18 to 49 and children aged 12 to 17. In the general area of substance use, the report includes estimates for past year use of any illicit substances (marijuana, cocaine in any form including crack, heroin, hallucinogens, inhalants, and methamphetamine and misuse of four categories of prescription drugs -- pain relievers, tranquilizers, stimulants and sedatives), past year cigarette use, past year alcohol use (both any use and binge use), and past year treatment for substance use, including alcohol use. In the general area of mental health, the report includes estimates for any mental illness (AMI) in the past year for wives. For both wives and children, the report includes estimates for past year major depressive episode (MDE) and mental health service use. For children, estimates of mental health service are reported by general treatment setting (e.g., mental health, educational, medical). As additional years of data become available, it will be possible in future reports to include both male and female spouses and to make more detailed comparisons -- for example for more specific types of illicit substances used and for treatment received by setting, by race/ethnicity and for spouses, by employment and educational background.

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.