The U.S. Census Bureau recently released details about millions of U.S. Veterans living in the United States which are used to evaluate the dispersal of benefits.
The bureau released a report on veterans on Nov. 10, and a collection of figures on Veterans Day, Nov. 11.
"The following facts are possible thanks to the invaluable responses to U.S. Census Bureau surveys," the bureau said in its Veterans Day report. "We appreciate the public's cooperation in helping us measure America’s people, places and economy."
About 18.2 million military veterans were living in the U.S. between 2015-2019, the latest figures available, according to the bureau's Veterans Day report. About 1.6 million of those military veterans were women.
Of those veterans, 1.7% were Asian Americans, 77.2% were non-Hispanic White, 6.9% were Hispanic or Latino, 11.9% were African American, and about 1% were Native American Indian, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander. The report also states that 23.5% were age 75 and older while 8.8% were younger than 35.
In the report issued the prior day, the bureau reported that almost half of veterans in the U.S., 46.7%, received some sort of military service-related cash or noncash benefit in 2017, the latest period available in that report. Over 18 million veterans, or 6.2% of the overall population, were living in the U.S. that year.
The Nov. 10 report used data from the 2018 Survey of Income and Program Participation (SIPP) study. The nationally representative panel survey collects information on short-term dynamics that included employment, income, household composition, eligibility and participation in government assistance programs.
The SIPP study also found that nearly all veterans, 94.9%, had health insurance every month in 2017 with coverage through a variety of public and private health insurance sources.
Of veterans with a mortgage, about a third, 32.1%, had a loan secured through the Veterans Administration.
Nearly 3.9 million veterans, 19.5%, received disability compensation payments in 2017 while almost 1.5 million veterans, 7.3%, received military retirement benefits. More than 600,000 veterans received pension payments in 2017.
