Lies, Damn Lies, and Statistics

 Blue Nation Review

60,000 veterans will sleep on the streets tonight while the share prices of the four largest military contractors reach all time highs.

The graphic and text above have been zipping around Facebook. We appreciate the concern for homeless veterans but the information is not true. Veterans suffer from homelessness a little less than non vets.

Homeless Veterans	49,933
Homeless - Total US	636,017
US Veterans	21,800,000
US Population over 18 Years of Age	242,372,000
Veterans as a Percent of the US Population over 18 years of age	9%
Veterans as a Percent of Total US Homeless	8%
About 1 in 12.7 of the Homeless are Veterans	1 to	12.7

At least this kind of misinformation does not demean Veterans, which I appreciate. I suppose it is put out there by organizations trying to raise funds to help homeless Veterans - who have an interest in magnifying the problem.

And any person who is homeless is a sad thing.  A complex problem. 

Sources

http://www.infoplease.com/spot/veteranscensus1.html

https://www.google.com/search?q=us+population&rlz=1CASMAE_enUS602US602&oq=us+population&aqs=chrome..69i57j69i60.3560j0j4&sourceid=chrome&es_sm=93&ie=UTF-8

http://nchv.org/index.php/news/media/background_and_statistics/

https://www.census.gov/how/pdf/census_veterans.pdf