About 2.7 million people in the world are Afghan/Iraqi war veterans. Of that 2.7 million, about 20% of those people are diagnosed with PTSD or post-traumatic stress disorder. The number of war veterans is constantly climbing, along with the percentage of veterans with PTSD.

Approximately 13,500,000 veterans are diagnosed with PTSD. Half of these veterans that are diagnosed do not seek professional help. Since 50% of veterans that are diagnosed do not seek professional help, suicide rates continue to climb. The suicide rate for veterans with PTSD is about five to eight thousand a year, or 22 veterans a day. This number continues to climb as the number of veterans with untreated PTSD climbs too.

PTSD is caused by a traumatic life event. A report from the Congressional Research Service showed that PTSD is most common in Army veterans, which is about 67% of all cases. Other branches of the military have found that some veterans have PTSD, but the number isn’t as high. About 13% of Marine veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD. The Navy reported that about 11% of veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD, and the Air Force has reported that about 9% of veterans have been diagnosed with PTSD.

PTSD for Afghan/Iraqi veterans is currently higher than any other prior war veterans with PTSD compared to the 15% of PTSD cases in Vietnam veterans and the 12% of cases in the Gulf War, also known as Operation Desert Storm.

These numbers continue to climb as the number of veterans grows along with the number of untreated veteran patients diagnosed with PTSD.