Military recruits by race and ethinicity, 2005

The table below shows the distribution of military recruits according to race and ethnicity for 2005.  Note that Hispanic recruits may be of any race, and a recruit from any race group may also be Hispanic. Recruitment data were obtained from the Department of Defense through a FOIA request submitted by NPP.

Please note that data for Marines includes a very large percentage of enlistees who  "declined to respond."  Thus the numbers for all races and Hispanic ethnicity should not be treated as an accurate representation of the makeup of the Marines.  However, that the Marines does not accurately collect this data should be noted. (The quality of the data varied by recruiting station).

Army Army Reserves Air Force Navy Marines
US & PR recruits 67,077 18,607 19,174 38,146 38,152
Race:
    American Indian or Alaska Native 746 150 109 2,647 212
1.1% 0.8% 0.6% 6.9% 0.6%
   Asian or Pacific Islander 2,357 828 859 2,311 767
3.5% 4.4% 4.5% 6.1% 2.0%
    Black or African American 10,030 3,813 2,810 7,155 2,322
15.0% 20.5% 14.7% 18.8% 6.1%
   White 53,943 13,814 14,684 24,557 24,537
80.4% 74.2% 76.6% 64.4% 64.3%
    Two or More - - 338 627 -
1.8% 1.6%
   Declined to Respond - - - - 10,312
27.0%
   Unknown 1 2 374 849 2
0.0% 0.0% 2.0% 2.2% 0.0%
Ethnicity:
   Hispanic 7,921 2,311 2,593 6,141 2,086
11.8% 12.4% 13.5% 16.1% 5.5%
( categories: )