When The U.S. Will Lose Its WWII Veterans

16 million Americans fought in the Second World War but today, their ranks are dwindling. U.S. men and women who fought in the conflict are now in their late 80s or early 90s with the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reporting that just under a million WWII veterans were alive in 2015. With an average of 362 dying every day, it raises a sad and depressing questoon: when will the U.S. lose the last of its WWII veterans?

The Department of Veterans Affairs uses a deterministic actuarial projection model to estimate and project the veteran population from up to 2045. Its findings have been visualized on the following infographic which shows how the number of living WWII vets will steadily decline over the coming three decades with the last one expected to pass away in 2044. That means that time is quickly running out to hear their stories about the war and to honor their sacrifice. The last American veteran of the First World War, Frank Buckles, passed away in February 2011.