American War and Military Operations Casualties: Statistics

From Congressional Research Service via Federation of American Scientists

This report provides U.S. war casualty statistics. It includes data tables containing the number of casualties among American military personnel who served in principal wars and combat actions from 1775 to the present. It also includes data on those wounded in action and information such as race and ethnicity, gender, branch of service, and cause of death. The tables are compiled from various Department of Defense (DOD) sources.

Wars covered include the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, the Mexican War, the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, World War I, World War II, the Korean War, the Vietnam Conflict, and the Persian Gulf War. Military operations covered include the Iranian Hostage Rescue Mission; Lebanon Peacekeeping; Urgent Fury in Grenada; Just Cause in Panama; Desert Shield and Desert Storm; Restore Hope in Somalia; Uphold Democracy in Haiti; and the ongoing Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF), Operation New Dawn (OND), and Operation Inherent Resolve.

For the more recent conflicts, starting with the Korean War, the report includes additional detailed information on types of casualties and, when available, demographics.

More Americans Have Died From Domestic Gunfire Than All Wars In U.S. History

Let’s start with the number: 1,384,171.

1,38,171 people have died in the most devastating war fought by Americans. Which war, you ask? World War I? World War II? The Civil War?

None of the above. This number is from the war being fought on the streets, in the neighborhoods, private homes, schools, and work places of the United States of America. Deaths by gunfire. Domestic gun deaths perpetrated by criminals, the mentally ill; enraged husbands, angry children, and some by unfortunate accident or suicide. And the number only reflects gun death statistics since 1968.

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2,003 Deaths in Afghanistan

From the New York Times:

The chart shows deaths of identified United States service members directly involved in the war in Afghanistan. Rocket-propelled grenades and small-arms fire took the largest number of American lives earlier in the war. In 2008, deaths from improvised explosive devices, or I.E.D.’s, began to make up a larger share of combat deaths.

JULY 20, 2008
Nearly seven years after the start of the war, the death toll reaches 500
MAY 18, 2010
Less than two years later, the war kills another 500, bringing the death toll to 1,000
AUGUST 23, 2012
Death toll reaches 2,003

A World of Meters

Worldometers is "part of the Real Time Statistics Project, which is managed by an international team of developers, researchers, and volunteers with the goal of making world statistics available in a thought-provoking and time relevant format to a wide audience around the world."

Other real time meters
U.S. National Debt Clock

Misery Index

Cost of War

American War and Military Operations Casualties: Lists and Statistics

Source: Congressional Research Service (via Federation of American Scientists)

This report is written in response to numerous requests for war casualty statistics and lists of war dead. It provides tables, compiled by sources at the Department of Defense (DOD), indicating the number of casualties among American military personnel serving in principal wars and combat actions from the Revolutionary War through 2006.