The United States Armed Forces numbers approximately 1.3 million men and women on active duty, which is less than one-half of 1% of the nation's population, according to the Council on Foreign Relations.
The military is organized into three departments: the Department of the Army, the Department of the Navy, and the Department of the Air Force. Five of the six armed service branches fall under these departments. There are also seven reserve forces.
The Army, which at 35% of the active-duty population is the largest military branch, is organized as its own department. The Air Force is the second-largest branch, having 24% of the contingent. The newly formed Space Force belong to the Department of the Air Force. The Navy (also with 24%) and the Marine Corps (14%) are both within the Department of the Navy.
The Coast Guard, which by law is also a military service branch, has 3% of the active-duty population. Since its main purpose is law enforcement, it falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security.
The federal government identifies five race groups: American Indian or Native Alaskan, Asian, Black or African American, Native Hawaiian or other Pacific Islander, and white. It also uses two categories for ethnicity: Hispanic or Latino, and not Hispanic or Latino.
The military's enlisted personnel are racially and ethnically diverse, but that decreases at the uppermost ranks. The officer corps is also similar to the country as a whole in terms of racial diversity, but the highest commissioned ranks—generals and admirals—are incommensurately white.
Women make up 16% of the military's enlisted ranks and 19% of its officers. In every service branch except one, women comprise approximately 20% of the officer population; in the Marine Corps only 8% of officers are women.
More demographic data can be found here.
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