Length of service

Length of service describes the time between joining the ADF and separation. In this report, length of service is presented in five groups (ranging from less than 1 year to more than 20 years).

The average length of service was just over 10 years with more than one quarter (28%) having between 1 and 5 years of service, while 1 in 5 (20%) had served over 20 years.

Overall, 14% of ex-serving members had served less than 1 year. The proportion was slightly higher for females at 18% compared with males (14%) who had served less than 1 year.

Females generally had a shorter length of service with 1 in 10 (10%) having served over 20 years compared with more than 2 in 10 (22%) of males.

The average length of service was higher for males than females (11 years and 7.8 years respectively).

Table 5: Length of service for ex-serving members, as of 31 December 2019

Length of service (years)(a)

Males 
(Number)

Males
(Per cent)

Females
(Number)

Females
(Per cent)

Persons
(Number)

Person
(Per cent)

< 1

29,821

13.6

7,210

17.5

37,031

14.2

1 – <5

59,020

26.9

13,230

32.1

72,250

27.7

5 – <10

40,400

18.4

8,772

21.3

49,172

18.9

10 – <20

41,252

18.8

7,743

18.8

48,995

18.8

20 or more

47,802

21.8

4,066

9.9

51,868

19.9

Total ex-serving(b)

219,411

100.0

41,213

100.0

260,624

100.0

Mean length of service (years)

10.9

. .

7.8

. .

10.4

. .

. . not applicable.

(a) The time between the date of hire and date of separation from the ADF.

(b) Sum of component items do not equal totals. For 1,116 ex-serving males and 192 ex-serving females, length of service was unable to be calculated due to not having a hire date for these records.

Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence Historical Personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data, 1985–2019.

As expected, as a person’s age increases so does the average length of service. Nearly half (47%) of members with over 20 years of service were aged 65 years and over. Older males (over the age of 55) have a longer average length of service than their female counterparts while younger males and females have a similar average length of service.

Figure 5: Average length of service for ex-serving members, as of 31 December 2019


Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence Historical Personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2019.