Veterans Day 2016: Athens Veterans By the Numbers

ATHENS, GA — We celebrate and honor the service of military veterans each Nov. 11. Established as Armistice Day more than 100 years ago, the first reference to "Veterans Day" came in 1947 as Raymond Weeks organized a parade and festivities in Birmingham, Alabama.

Nationally, the veteran population includes 18.8 million men and women who have served in active duty — there are more than 641,267 veterans in the state of Georgia, according to the U.S. Census.

A large majority of our veteran population is 55 or older. That's due to the draft-era veterans who served in the military during the Vietnam era, Korean War or World War II. The draft ended 43 years ago.

"Unlike the nonveteran population, which increases each year, the veteran population decreases each year as mortality in the draft-era (group) outpaces military discharges," writes Kelly Ann Holder on the U.S. Census blog. "In 2015, the median age of all draft-era veterans was 72 years. The largest living (group) of veterans today, with a median age of 68 years, served during the Vietnam era."

In the Athens-Clarke County Census region, veterans have a median household income is $49,453, compared to $14,080 for nonveterans. Here are 11 other numbers that tell you about the veteran population of the Athens region:

3,953 veterans live in the region

8 percent are female

67.7 percent are 55 or older

15 percent are African American

27 percent have a disability.

Source: U.S. Census, 2015 American Community Survey data

Photo by the U.S. Army via Flickr Commons