A study of enlistment patterns indicates the U.S. military is drawing more people from rural areas than big cities.
The non-partisan National Priorities Project charted 2004 recruiting data by Zip code and found 44 percent of U.S. military recruits come from rural, often economically troubled, areas.
"A lot of the high recruitment rates are in areas where there is not as much economic opportunity for young people, NPP Research Director Anita Dancs told The Washington Post.
The NPP analysis showed that 14 percent of recruits come from major cities. The South provided 40 percent of military signups and another 24 percent came from the West.
USA Today reported there has been a drop in the number of African-American enlistments to the armed forces. The newspaper said the number of black recruits to the U.S. military dropped from 30,038 in 2000 to 26,170 in 2004 -- a fall off of about 30 percent.
The Department of Defense has been having a hard time meeting recruiting goals, with the war in Iraq cited as having the largest negative affect on convincing people to join the military.
© Copyright 2005 by United Press International
