The U.S. Army is at its smallest size since pre-World War II after being one of three major military services to miss recruiting goals last year.

The Army has failed to meet its recruiting goals for the last two years and missed its 2023 target by 10,000 soldiers, a 20% shortfall, Vox reported.

The active-duty Army currently has 445,000 soldiers, 41,000 fewer than in 2021, and the smallest it has been since 1940.

The branch is nearly 20,000 members short of the target it hopes to hit by the end of the decade, Yahoo News reported.

The Navy and Air Force also missed their recruiting goals in 2023, when the Marine Corps was the only service to achieve its targets. The smaller Space Force also met its recruiting goals.

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The Marines were helped by restructuring that required nearly 19,000 fewer active duty and selected reserve slots to be filled compared to 2020.

Adding to the concerns about the size of the U.S. military’s active force is the struggle to build reserve components.

The National Guard and Reserves have been shrinking since 2020, Vox reported.

The Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve each missed their recruiting targets by 30%, and the Army Reserve fell more than 5,000 short of its goal of recruiting 14,650 new soldiers.

The Navy Reserve missed its enlisted and officer targets by 35% and 40%, respectively.

In April, the Army and Air force said they were on track to meet their recruiting goals this year, reversing previous shortfalls using a swath of new programs and policy changes. But the Navy, while improving, expected once again to fall short.

Military.com reported in June that the Army’s declining recruitment numbers are almost entirely attributable to a significant drop in male recruiting as female enlistments have remained relatively flat.

Male enlistments have dropped from 58,000 in 2013 to 37,700 in 2023, according to the service data. Meanwhile, female recruitment has been around 10,000 recruits each year.

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The U.S. did away with the draft 51 years ago, choosing to rely on an All-Volunteer Force (AVF).

The AVF has fought wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, though neither war was a victory.

To help address the recruitment crisis, Congress in recent months has considered automatically registering young men for Selective Service, and making women eligible for the draft, Yahoo News reported.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.

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