The CIA world factbook gives "12 million" as being the number for
"Military manpower fit for service in males aged 16-49" in the UK.
They have no such figure available however for the USA. I need this
figure (though in the case of the US the age bracker will be
18-49)....something similar to these ages is also acceptable.

Tom-GA

---

Request for Question Clarification by justaskscott-ga on 21 Jul 2005 06:57 PDT

Would an estimate from 2000 be sufficient?  That's the most recent CIA
estimate I can find.

---

Clarification of Question by tom2000-ga on 21 Jul 2005 08:31 PDT

Hi justaskscott-ga 

Yes, estimate OK if based on a reliable source or some reliable
methodology of coming up with that figure. In that case, I'd like to
know that source or that method of calculating in order to be
reassured as to the quality of the answer. Thanks!

Tom-GA

Hi Tom,

The 2000 CIA World Factbook contained this estimate for the United States:

"Military manpower - fit for military service: 
males age 15-49: 2,056,762 (2000 est.)"

"The World Factbook 2000 -- United States -- Military" [cache from March 3, 2001]
Central Intelligence Agency [via Internet Archive Wayback Machine]
http://web.archive.org/web/20010331081856/http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/us.html#Military

See also the same statistic in:

"Reference > World Factbook > United States > Military"
Yahooligans!
http://yahooligans.yahoo.com/reference/factbook/us/milita.html

- justaskscott


Search strategy --

Searched on Google for these terms, individually or in various combinations:

"military manpower fit for service"
"military manpower fit for military service"
"united states"
"2004 est"
"2003 est"
"2002 est"
"2001 est"
"2000 est"
2056762 
cia
factbook

---

Request for Answer Clarification by tom2000-ga on 24 Jul 2005 07:31 PDT

Hmmm.....those seem like very dubious figures, justaskscott. Only 2
million men fir for military service in the USA?????

It's not because of your research (since that IS indeed that figure
that's given on the CIA website), but generally the "Military manpower
- fit for military service" should be a number only slightly below the
"available" one. I wonder if it's a typo and should read 52,056,762 or
62,056,762?

Anyway, I can work with the alternative figure "Military manpower -
availability" so all is not lost. Thank you.

---

Clarification of Answer by justaskscott-ga on 24 Jul 2005 09:47 PDT

Perhaps the CIA World Factbook was referring to the number of people
actually available -- and presumably fit as well -- for military
service.  My impression is that 2 million is approximately the number
of people currently available for service (on active duty, in
reserves, etc.) -- it's a number I've heard a few times in discussions
of the possibility of a draft.