Military service age and obligation:
18 years of age; 17 years of age with written parental consent
(2006)
Manpower available for military service:
males age 18-49: 67,742,879
females age 18-49: 67,070,144 (2005 est.)
Manpower fit for military service:
males age 18-49: 54,609,050
females age 18-49: 54,696,706 (2005 est.)
Manpower reaching military service age annually:
males age 18-49: 2,143,873
females age 18-49: 2,036,201 (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - dollar figure:
$518.1 billion (FY04 est.) (2005 est.)
Military expenditures - percent of GDP:
4.06% (FY03 est.) (2005 est.)
Transnational Issues United States
Disputes - international:
prolonged drought, population growth, and outmoded practices and
infrastructure in the border region strain water-sharing
arrangements with Mexico; the US has stepped up efforts to stem
nationals from Mexico, Central America, and other parts of the world
from crossing illegally into the US from Mexico; illegal immigrants
from the Caribbean, notably Haiti and the Dominican Republic,
attempt to enter the US through Florida by sea; 1990 Maritime
Boundary Agreement in the Bering Sea still awaits Russian Duma
ratification; managed maritime boundary disputes with Canada at
Dixon Entrance, Beaufort Sea, Strait of Juan de Fuca, and around the
disputed Machias Seal Island and North Rock; US and Canada seek
greater cooperation in monitoring people and commodities crossing
the border; The Bahamas and US have not been able to agree on a
maritime boundary; US Naval Base at Guantanamo Bay is leased from
Cuba and only mutual agreement or US abandonment of the area can
terminate the lease; Haiti claims US-administered Navassa Island; US
has made no territorial claim in Antarctica (but has reserved the
right to do so) and does not recognize the claims of any other
state; Marshall Islands claims Wake Island
Refugees and internally displaced persons:
refugees (country of origin): the US admitted 52,868 refugees
during FY03/04 including: 13,331 (Somalia), 6,000 (Laos), 3,482
(Ukraine), 2,959 (Cuba), 1,787 (Iran); note - 32,229 refugees had
been admitted as of 30 June 2005
Illicit drugs:
world's largest consumer of cocaine, shipped from Colombia through
Mexico and the Caribbean; consumer of heroin, marijuana, and
increasingly methamphetamine from Mexico; consumer of high-quality
Southeast Asian heroin; illicit producer of cannabis, marijuana,
depressants, stimulants, hallucinogens, and methamphetamine;
money-laundering center