Global U.S. Troop Deployment, 1950-2005

Abstract

This report provides and analyzes the first comprehensive time series data on U.S. troop deployments by year and country, from 1950 to 2005, including the full dataset. On average, 23 percent of all U.S. servicemen were stationed on foreign soil during 1950-2005. Roughly 386,000 troops were stationed overseas in 2005 compared to an average of 535,540 during 1950-2000. Deployments have ranged from a high of 1,082,777 troops in 1968 to a low of 206,002 in 1999. There were 118.82 million U.S. military billets during 1950-2000 (with "billet" defined as one serviceman for one year). Of that total, 27.3 million billets were overseas assignments. Since 1950, 54 countries have hosted at least 1,000 American troops.

Keywords: U.S. Troops, Deployments, Global, Military