US Military Personnel Deployments by Country
There was no shortage of cuts proposed in Trump’s budget for 2018, which was released earlier this week.
However, one of the few departments that did not receive a haircut was the Department of Defense. If the proposed budget ultimately passes in Congress, the DoD would be allocated an extra $54 billion in federal funding – a 10% increase that would be one of the largest one-year defense budget increases in American History.
To put the proposed increase in context, the United States already spends more on defense than the next seven countries combined. Meanwhile, the additional $54 billion is about the size of the United Kingdom’s entire defense budget.
| Country | Military Spending (2015) | Share |
|---|---|---|
| United States | $596 billion | 35.8% |
| China | $215 billion | 12.9% |
| Saudi Arabia | $87 billion | 5.2% |
| Russia | $66 billion | 4.0% |
| United Kingdom | $55 billion | 3.3% |
| India | $51 billion | 3.1% |
| France | $51 billion | 3.1% |
| Japan | $41 billion | 2.5% |
| Germany | $39 billion | 2.4% |
| South Korea | $36 billion | 2.2% |
| Others | $427 billion | 25.6% |
“BE ALL YOU CAN BE”
With over half of all US discretionary spending being put towards the military each year, the US is able to have extensive operations both at home and abroad. Our chart for this week breaks down military personnel based on the latest numbers released by the DoD on February 27, 2017.
In total, excluding civilian support staff, there are about 2.1 million troops. Of those, 1.3 million are on active duty, while about 800,000 are in reserve or part of the National Guard.
On a domestic basis, there are about 1.1 million active troops stationed in the United States, and here’s how they are grouped based on branch of service:
| Military Branch | Active Domestic Personnel | As a Percentage |
|---|---|---|
| Army | 394,236 | 35% |
| Navy | 283,499 | 25% |
| Marine Corps | 149,992 | 13% |
| Air Force | 249,738 | 22% |
| Coast Guard | 38,659 | 3% |
| Total | 1,116,124 | 100% |
Internationally, there are just under 200,000 troops that are stationed in 177 countries throughout the world.
Here are the top 20 countries they are stationed in, as well as an “Other” category that represents the rest:
| Rank | Country / Territory | U.S. Troops |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Japan | 39,345 |
| #2 | Germany | 34,805 |
| #3 | South Korea | 23,468 |
| #4 | Italy | 12,102 |
| #5 | Afghanistan | 9,294 |
| #6 | United Kingdom | 8,479 |
| #7 | Kuwait | 6,296 |
| #8 | Iraq | 5,540 |
| #9 | Bahrain | 5,504 |
| #10 | Guam | 3,831 |
| #11 | Spain | 3,256 |
| #12 | Qatar | 2,976 |
| #13 | Turkey | 2,234 |
| #14 | Djibouti | 1,961 |
| #15 | Jordan | 1,759 |
| #16 | United Arab Emirates | 1,079 |
| #17 | Belgium | 842 |
| #18 | Cuba | 806 |
| #19 | Romania | 667 |
| #20 | Greece | 407 |
| Other / Unknown | 34,834 | |
| Total | 199,485 |
In 2015, Politico estimated that there are 800 US bases abroad, and that it costs up to $100 billion annually to maintain this international presence.
