Summary

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed the overall composition of the U.S. military services by race or national origin identification and by gender.

GAO found that: (1) in 1972, blacks comprised 11.1 percent of the active duty forces, Hispanics 3.6 percent, whites 83.6 percent, and others 1.7 percent; (2) in 1990, blacks comprised 20.8 percent of the active duty forces, Hispanics 4.6 percent, whites 70.4 percent, and others 4.2 percent; and (3) in 1972, men comprised 98.1 percent and women 1.9 percent, while in 1990 those proportions were 89.0 and 11.0, respectively.