Global Trends
Total overseas active-duty personnel by regionDeployment Map
Geographic distribution of U.S. military personnelCountry Details
Click a country on the map or in the list to exploreHost Country Public Opinion
Nationally representative surveys, 2018–2023 — Allen, Flynn, Martinez Machain & Stravers — 14 countries, ~45,000 respondentsConstruction Spending
Overseas military construction expenditures, 2008–2019About This Data
The United States maintains one of the largest networks of overseas military deployments in history. Since the end of World War II, U.S. troops have been stationed in dozens of countries across every inhabited continent, forming the backbone of American security commitments and alliance structures.
Troop deployment data were originally compiled by Tim Kane (2006) from Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC) reports, covering 1950–2005. The series has been extended through 2025 and distributed as the troopdata R package by Allen, Flynn, and Martinez Machain. Annual figures use September (midyear) DMDC reports as the primary snapshot; March reports serve as fallback where September is unavailable. Data are available for download at the Military Deployments project page.
Military basing data were compiled by David Vine (American University) and incorporated into troopdata with open-source updates through 2018. Vine's full lists of U.S. military bases abroad are available at American University's research repository.
Research shows that the nature of interactions between deployed personnel and host populations significantly shapes local attitudes toward U.S. presence. Positive daily contact and economic flows serve as a form of public diplomacy, while negative events such as crime or environmental harm can generate opposition. These dynamics place the U.S. in what Allen et al. describe as a “Domain of Competitive Consent,” where the longevity of deployments depends on buy-in from host-state populations.
Key References
- Allen, M.A., Flynn, M.E., & Martinez Machain, C. (under review). Public opinion toward US military presence in Poland: A 2023 follow-up survey. Pre-publication appendix.
- Allen, M.A., Flynn, M.E., Martinez Machain, C., & Stravers, A. (2022). Beyond the Wire: US Military Deployments and Host Country Public Opinion. Oxford University Press.
- Allen, M.A., Flynn, M.E., Martinez Machain, C., & Stravers, A. (2020). Outside the Wire: U.S. Military Deployments and Public Opinion in Host States. American Political Science Review, 114(2), 326–341.
- Allen, M.A., Flynn, M.E., & Martinez Machain, C. (2022). US Global Military Deployments, 1950–2020. Conflict Management and Peace Science, 39(3), 351–370.
- Allen, M.A., Flynn, M.E., & Martinez Machain, C. (2022). US Military Deployments and the Importance of Interpersonal Contact. Foreign Policy Analysis.
- Kane, T. (2006). Global U.S. Troop Deployment, 1950–2005. Heritage Foundation. [Original DMDC data compilation underlying the deployment series]
- Vine, D. (2015). Base Nation: How U.S. Military Bases Abroad Harm America and the World. Metropolitan Books. Lists of bases available at American University Repository.
Funding & Acknowledgments
The material on this page related to the public opinion survey data is based upon work supported by, or in part by, the Minerva Research Initiative, U.S. Army Research Laboratory and the U.S. Army Research Office under grant number W911NF-18-1-0087. Opinions and interpretations are those of the authors and not the Army or Department of Defense.
The Poland 2023 follow-up survey research is funded in part by the Jones Family Faculty Award for Eastern European Studies, from the Kansas State University Department of Political Science. This research has been approved by Boise State University’s Institutional Review Board as protocol number 000-SB22-181.