Health of veterans

The exact number of Australian veterans is unknown.

• As at June 2021, the ADF comprised more than 59,500 permanent (47,800 males and 11,700 females) and 29,700 reserve personnel¹ across the Royal Australian Navy, the Australian Army, and the Royal Australian Air Force. In 2020–21, more than 8,000 people were enlisted in permanent or reserve roles, and more than 5,600 left the ADF (Defence 2021).
• As at June 2021, there were more than 337,000 DVA beneficiaries² in receipt of pensions, allowances, and treatment or pharmaceuticals. This included approximately 240,000 veterans and 97,200 dependants (DVA 2021).
• According to the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, more than half a million Australians (581,000) had served, or were currently serving, in the ADF. Around 60,300 were in the regular service, 24,600 in the reserves service, and 496,000 were not currently serving (but had previously served in the ADF) (ABS 2022a).
• Based on Defence administration data available to AIHW, as of 31 December 2020, almost 379,000 Australians had served at least one day in the ADF between 1 January 1985 and 31 December 2020. Of these, approximately 362,000 were alive, comprising 60,000 permanent, 39,000 reserve, and 263,000 ex-serving members (AIHW 2022).

Based on self-reported data from the 2020–21 National Health Survey (NHS), it is estimated that a total of 704,500 Australians aged 18 years and over had ever served in the ADF. Of these, 579,400 (82%) were males and 125,200 (18%) were females. Of the males who had ever served in the ADF, 207,700 (36%) perceived themselves to be clients of DVA and 371,700 (64%) considered themselves to be non-DVA clients. By comparison, 8.9 million males aged 18 years and over had never served in the ADF (AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b). These estimates exclude people living in non-private dwellings at the time of the survey – such as hospitals, nursing homes (residential aged care facilities) and single quarters of military establishments – and therefore does not capture segments of the permanent, reserves and ex-serving population, including both DVA and non-DVA clients.

Figures 1 and 2 show age distributions by ADF service status and DVA client status:

• Males who had ever served in the ADF were typically older than males who had never served – 47% of males who served in the ADF were aged 65 years and over, compared with 18% of males who had never served (Figure 1).
• Of males who had ever served in the ADF, DVA clients were generally younger than non-DVA clients – around #42%³ of DVA clients were aged 65 years and over, compared with around half (49%) of non-DVA clients (Figure 2) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b).

Figure 1: ADF service status by age, males aged 18 years and over, 2020–21

* A statistically significant difference between males who have served in the ADF and males who have never served in the ADF, calculated using the confidence interval of the difference between the two proportions.

Note: the thin vertical lines superimposed over the top end of each bar are 95% confidence intervals.

Chart: AIHW.

Source: AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b. See Health of veterans: supplementary data tables – Table S1.

Figure 2: DVA client status by age, males aged 18 years and over, 2020–21

* A statistically significant difference between males who have served in the ADF and were DVA clients, and males who have ever served in the ADF and were not DVA clients, calculated using the confidence interval of the difference between the two proportions.

# Proportion has a high margin of error (MoE) and should be used with caution.

Note: the thin vertical lines superimposed over the top end of each bar are 95% confidence intervals.

Chart: AIHW.

Source: AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b. See Health of veterans: supplementary data tables – Table S1.

1 Reserves include all members (Service Categories 5, 4 and 3) and Reservists undertaking continuous full-time service (Service Option C). This does not include Service Category 2. For more information see Defence 2021.

2 Individuals receiving DVA pensions can also be employed on reserve contracts.

3 Proportions marked with a hash (#) have a high margin of error (MoE) and should be interpreted with caution. A high MoE is considered as greater than 10%.