Characteristics of serving and ex-serving ADF members who have not yet or not recently interacted with the Department of Veterans’ Affairs

The AIHW ADF annual suicide monitoring report released in 2023 included some analysis of Department of Veterans’ Affairs (DVA) clients and non-DVA clients who had served since 1985 (see Serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members who have served since 1985: suicide monitoring 1997 to 2021).

In 2021 there were 382,000 veterans who had served at least 1 day in the ADF since 1985, including serving and ex-serving members. Of these veterans:

• 203,000 (53%) were non-DVA clients
• 87,700 (23%) were earlier DVA clients (DVA clients who had not engaged with DVA in the past 2 years)
• the remaining 25% were recent DVA clients.

The proportion of female veterans who were non-DVA clients or earlier DVA clients was higher than for males. For females, 57% were non-DVA clients and 25% were earlier DVA clients (while the male proportions were 52% and 23% respectively).

Service status

Of veterans who had served since 1985, most (74%) were ex-serving members in 2021. Of ex-serving members in 2021, 60% (169,000) were non-DVA clients and 14% (39,300) were earlier DVA clients. A higher proportion of female ex-serving members were non-DVA clients than males (see Table 1).

Of current serving members (permanent and reserve) in 2021, 33% (33,400) were non-DVA clients and 48% (48,400) were earlier DVA clients. Table 1 shows the proportions of veterans who were non-DVA clients and earlier DVA clients by ADF status and sex.

Source: AIHW Suicide monitoring of serving and ex-serving ADF members: 1997 to 2021.

It is also possible to disaggregate the veteran population by ADF status and DVA client type. Of all veterans in 2021, 74% were ex-serving members and the other 26% were serving members. In comparison, out of all non-DVA clients, 84% were ex-serving members and of all earlier DVA clients, 45% were ex-serving members. This suggests that a relatively high proportion of earlier DVA clients were serving or reserve members. Figure 2 shows veterans by non-DVA client and DVA client groups.

The proportion of ex-serving ADF members who are non-DVA clients has decreased over time

The proportion of ex-serving ADF members who were non-DVA clients has been declining over time, down from 80% in 2002 to 60% in 2021. This was mainly driven by a change in DVA policy in mid-2018 to provide permanent ADF members transitioning to civilian life with a Veteran White Card (DVA 2025).

The proportion of earlier DVA clients was stable at between 10% and 11% from 2002 to 2018 but since then it has increased to 14% in 2021. The proportion for males and females has been similar over the period to 2021.

Age distribution

The median age of non-DVA clients was slightly lower than DVA clients for both current serving (32 compared with 34) and ex-serving members (51 compared with 54). The median age of earlier DVA clients was lower than recent DVA clients for both current serving (33 compared with 38) and ex-serving members (50 compared with 57).

Of current serving members, two thirds (67%) of non-DVA clients were under 40 years old. A slightly higher proportion (70%) of earlier DVA clients who were current serving members were in this age group, but both were above the same proportion for recent DVA clients (55%).

Among ex-serving members, a similar proportion of non-DVA clients were aged 40 and over (81%) compared with recent DVA clients (81%). The proportion of earlier DVA clients who were ex-serving members and aged 40 and over was slightly lower (77%). Figure 3 shows the median age and age distribution of veterans by DVA client type and service status.

Service characteristics

Most veterans who were non-DVA clients were serving in the Army or previously served in the Army upon separation. The proportion of non-DVA clients who served in the Army was 61% for current serving and 73% for ex-serving members. This was higher than the proportion of DVA clients (55% and 58% respectively).

The proportion of earlier DVA clients who served in the Army was lower for current serving members (53%) than the proportion of recent DVA clients (59%). This was offset by higher proportions of current serving earlier DVA clients in the Navy and Air Force compared with recent DVA clients (see Figure 4).

Most veterans who were non-DVA clients or earlier DVA clients were other ranks (that is, a sailor, soldier or airman of rank code E00 to E10) in comparison to Officer ranks (rank code O00 to O10). The proportion of current serving non-DVA clients who were other ranks was lower than DVA clients (69% compared with 74%). The proportion of ex-serving non-DVA clients who were other ranks was similar to DVA clients.

Current and ex-serving members who were non-DVA clients had much shorter lengths of service than DVA clients. The median length of service for current serving members who were non-DVA clients was 7 years, compared with 12 years for DVA clients. The difference was even greater for ex-serving members with non-DVA clients having a median length of service of 4 years compared with 14 years for DVA clients.

Current and ex-serving member earlier DVA clients had shorter lengths of service compared with both recent DVA clients and DVA clients. The median length of service for both current serving and ex-serving member earlier DVA clients was 10 years.

Over half (55%) of non-DVA clients who were ex-serving members had served for less than 5 years, compared with almost one in five for DVA clients (18%) and one in four earlier DVA clients (28%). The proportion of current serving members who were non-DVA clients and had served less than 5 years (40%) was close to double the proportion of DVA clients (22%) and above the proportion of earlier DVA clients (28%).

Figure 4 shows the proportion of veterans by service, rank and service length as well as by sex.

Service characteristics specific to ex-serving members

Ex-serving members who were non-DVA clients had much longer time since separation than DVA clients. The median time since separation for non-DVA clients was 23 years, compared with 16 years for DVA clients and earlier DVA clients. Four in five ex-serving members (82%) who were non-DVA clients had separated from the ADF 10 or more years earlier as of 2021, compared with three in five DVA clients (63%). The time since separation of ex-serving members who were earlier DVA clients was similar to DVA clients (see Figure 5).

When analysing ex-serving members by their year of separation, a large proportion of non-DVA client members had separated between 1985 and 2000 (58%) in comparison with DVA clients (38%). However, similar to DVA clients, a quarter of earlier DVA clients had separated from the ADF between 2016 and 2021.

Over half of ex-serving members who were non-DVA clients (54%) had separated voluntarily from the ADF. This was higher than the 35% of DVA clients, 45% of earlier DVA clients and 29% of recent DVA clients. Only 2% of non-DVA clients had separated involuntarily for medical reasons compared with 30% of DVA clients, 13% of earlier DVA clients and 39% of recent DVA clients.