There were about 1.3 million active duty military personnel at the end of June this year, according to the Department of Defense's Defense Manpower Data Center. About 200,000 of those were stationed around the world.

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Data: Defense Manpower Data Center; Map: Lazaro Gamio / Axios

The 10 places with the biggest U.S. troop presence: Japan (39,623), Germany (34,399), South Korea (23,297), Italy (11,806), Afghanistan (10,107), United Kingdom (8,126) , Kuwait (7,097), Iraq (6,137), Bahrain (5,894) and Guam (4,299).

Why it matters: Tens of thousands of troops remain in the Middle East and Afghanistan, and the U.S. has a huge deployment well within missile range of the next potential flashpoint, North Korea.