With a military budget bigger than most countries’ GDPs, the U.S. military manages to station troops in nearly 170 territories, on every continent in the world.
But which countries host the most troops? We map the territories where active duty American military personnel are stationed, according to March 2024 figures from the Defense Manpower Data Center (DMDC).
Ranked: Top 10 Territories Hosting U.S. Troops
There are nearly 170,000 active duty American troops stationed overseas.
More than half of that number are in Japan (55,000) and Germany (35,000), a holdover from World War II after the Axis powers surrendered.
Germany is now also home to the US European Command (EUCOM) headquarters in Stuttgart. It’s a key regional outpost, to help “keep the peace in Europe, parts of the Middle East, and Eurasia,” as stated by the government.
| Rank | Country | Active Duty American Troops |
|---|---|---|
| 1 |  Japan |
54,774 |
| 2 |  Germany |
35,068 |
| 3 |  South Korea |
24,234 |
| 4 |  Italy |
12,375 |
| 5 |  UK |
10,058 |
| 6 |  Guam* |
6,593 |
| 7 |  Bahrain |
3,479 |
| 8 |  Spain |
3,292 |
| 9 |  Türkiye |
1,690 |
| 10 |  Norway |
1,438 |
| N/A |  Rest of World |
16,116 |
| N/A | Total |
169,117 |
*Guam is a U.S. territory.
Meanwhile, the Japan-U.S. Security Treaty revised in 1960 allowed America to establish military bases in the country, in exchange for defending Japan in the event of an attack.
South Korea also has a significant garrison, nearly 25,000 active duty personnel. This is also a legacy from the Korean War.
Tellingly, however, six of the top 10 countries hosting U.S. troops are in Europe. For the decades since the Cold War, the American military had been reducing its European footprint. However after Russia’s annexation of Crimea in 2014, the buildup restarted.
Finally, in the wake of the 2022 Russian invasion and the Israel-Hamas war, the U.S. military has increased the number of troops both in Europe and the Middle East.
Credit: Visual Capitalist
