Total U.S. servicemembers and living veterans of major conflicts 1941-2021

As of 2021, there are approximately 9.5 million U.S. military veterans of major conflicts from 1941 to 1991 still living. The largest of these cohorts is from the Vietnam War, followed by the Gulf War and Korean War. The oldest living veterans today are those that served in the Second World War, which the United States was involved in from 1941 until 1945, with the last remaining U.S. veteran of the First World War having died in 2018.
The Department of Veteran Affairs is responsible for administering benefits, health care and other services to assist veterans in transitioning back into civilian life. In recent decades the focus of these services has turned towards areas in which veterans are particularly known to have poor life outcomes, such as above-average suicide rates, mental health conditions such as PTSD (post-traumatic stress disorder), and homelessness.