Characteristics and health conditions of civilian spouses of veterans

Needing or providing assistance

This section provides information on civilian spouses of veterans by whether they are needing or providing unpaid assistance with core activities, and compares that with spouses of non-veterans. The difference in the age distribution among these groups should be considered for comparisons, particularly for older age groups.

Since the need for assistance increases with age, the following analyses examines broad age groups and sex differences where relevant.

Female civilian spouses of ex-serving veterans were more likely to be providing unpaid assistance

This section presents the proportion of civilian spouses of veterans who in the past 2 weeks prior to census night, have provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability, health condition, or due to old age. Note that this assistance does not necessarily have to be provided to their spouse.

Approximately 22% of veterans’ civilian spouses (68,900) were providing unpaid assistance. Among these:

• 94% (64,600) were spouses of ex-serving members
• 3.4% (2,400) were spouses of current serving permanent members
• Less than 3% (1,900) were spouses of current serving reserves members

For spouses in non-veteran relationships, 14% were providing unpaid assistance.

Among female civilian spouses of veterans (66,000 spouses) who had provided unpaid assistance (Figure 5):

• Across all age groups presented, spouses of ex-serving members (62,000) overall had a higher prevalence of having provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships. For example, among those aged 35–44, 19% of female spouses of ex-serving members had provided unpaid assistance, compared to 14% of female spouses in non-veteran relationships.
• Among spouses aged 45–54 and those aged 55 years and over, those partnered with permanent members had a lower prevalence of having provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability (17% and 19% respectively) compared with other groups, where female spouses:
  • in non-veteran relationships, the prevalence was 20% (aged 45–54) and 22% (55 years and older),
  • of reserves members, the prevalence was 20% (aged 45–54) and 24% (55 years and older), and
  • of ex-serving members, the prevalence was 24% (aged 45–54) and 25% (55 years and older)

For male civilian spouses (2,900) who provided unpaid assistance:

• Across all age groups presented, spouses of ex-serving members (2,700) overall had a higher prevalence of having provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability compared with male spouses in non-veteran relationships. For example, among those aged 25–34, 10% of male spouses of ex-serving members had provided unpaid assistance, compared to 6.0% of male spouses in non-veteran relationships.
• Spouses aged 35–44, 45–54, or 55 years and over of permanent members had a lower prevalence of having provided unpaid assistance to a person with a disability compared with male spouses in non-veteran relationships and spouses of reserves and ex-serving members. For example, among those aged 35–44, 7.4% of spouses of permanent members had provided unpaid assistance, compared with
  • 14% of spouses of reserve members,
  • 13% of spouses of ex-serving members, and
  • 9.6% of spouses in non-veteran relationships.

The majority of civilian spouses who needed assistance were aged 55 or older

In the 2021 Census, 23,600 civilian spouses of veterans were identified as having a need for assistance with core activities, accounting for 7.5% of all veterans’ spouses. Among these:

• 98% were spouses of ex-serving veterans of which the majority (91%) were 55 years and older,
• 1.4% were spouses of current serving, permanent members
• Less than 1% were spouses of current serving, reserves members

For spouses in non-veteran relationships, 4.1% needed assistance with core activities.

Comparing the prevalence of needing core activity assistance among female civilian spouses (Figure 6):

• Spouses aged 55 years and over of permanent and reserve members had a lower prevalence of requiring core activity assistance (4.4% and 3.9% respectively) compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships (8.3%)
• In contrast, spouses aged 55 years and over of ex-serving members had a higher prevalence of requiring core activity assistance (11%) compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships (8.3%)

For male civilian spouses of veterans:

• Spouses aged 55 years and over of ex-serving members had a lower prevalence of requiring core activity assistance (7.7%) compared with male spouses in non-veteran relationships (9.0%).

Long-term health conditions

This section presents the prevalence of self-reported long-term health conditions among different groups of civilian spouses of veterans and spouses of non-veterans. The difference in the age distribution of among these groups should be considered for comparisons, particularly among the older spouse age group (over 55).

Since chronic or long-term health conditions increase with age, the following analyses examines broad age groups and sex differences where relevant. 

While this data provides a population snapshot on the Census date of 10 August 2021, it does not establish any causal relationships to the presence of long-term health conditions in specific groups.

It is important to recognise that differences in the prevalence of long-term health conditions between groups of spouses may be influenced by several factors. These include differing age profiles and other socio-demographic characteristics that may not be captured in the data, differing access to healthcare (including DVA funded services) and health-seeking behaviours leading to variations in diagnosis rates, as well as random statistical variation. Further analysis, including modelling and prospective research studies, would be required to determine any causal relationships but are outside the scope and purpose of this report, which is primarily descriptive.

Around half of civilian spouses of veterans have a long-term health condition

In the 2021 Census, 162,500 civilian spouses of veterans were identified as having one or more long-term health conditions, accounting for just over half (52%) of all veterans’ civilian spouses. Among all spouses in non-veteran relationships, 36% had one or more long-term health conditions. Prevalence varied by sex and age group but generally increased with age (see Fig 7).

In terms of the prevalence of long-term health condition among female civilian spouses (Figure 7):

• Across all age groups reported, spouses of ex-serving members had a higher prevalence of long-term health conditions compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships. This difference was greatest for spouses who were 55 years and older (63%, corresponding to 112,300, compared with 52%).
• Across all age groups reported, spouses of permanent members overall had a higher prevalence of long-term health conditions compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships, except for spouses aged 55 years and over where the prevalence was lower (47%, corresponding to 485, compared with 52%).

For male civilian spouses of veterans:

• Across all age groups reported, spouses of ex-serving members overall had a higher prevalence of long-term health conditions compared with male spouses in non-veteran relationships (44%, corresponding to 7,500, compared with 36%). This difference was largest for spouses who were aged 25–34 (25% compared with 19%) and those aged 35–44 (28% compared with 22%).
• Spouses aged 55 years and over of permanent members had a lower prevalence of long-term health conditions compared with male spouses in non-veteran relationships (38%, corresponding to 45, compared with 54%).

Around 1 in 5 civilian spouses of veterans have multiple long-term health conditions

In the 2021 Census, 56,300 civilian spouses of veterans were identified as self-reporting two or more long-term health conditions, accounting for 18% of all veterans’ civilian spouses and 35% of all veterans’ civilian spouses with a long-term health condition. Of these, 96% (54,100) were spouses of ex-serving members, and 2.4% (1,400) and 1.5% (850) were spouses of permanent and reserves members respectively.

For spouses in non-veteran relationships, 9.5% had two or more long-term health conditions, accounting for 26% of those with a long-term health condition.

Among female civilian spouses aged 25–54, spouses of permanent members and ex-serving members had a higher prevalence of having two or more long-term health conditions compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships, while spouses of reserves members showed a similar prevalence to female non-veteran’s spouses. Female civilian spouses aged 55 years and over of ex-serving members had a higher prevalence of having two or more long-term health conditions compared with female spouses in non-veteran relationships (25% compared with 17%).

Male civilian spouses aged 55 years and over of ex-serving members had a similar prevalence of having two or more long-term health conditions compared with male spouses in non-veteran relationships (21% compared with 19%).

Physical health conditions were common among older spouses, mental health conditions were common among younger spouses

Overall, the six most common long-term health conditions (excluding Other long-term health conditions) among veterans’ spouses were, arthritis (prevalence of 23%), asthma (11%), mental health conditions (11%), diabetes (7.4%), cancer (6.8%), and heart disease (6.6%).

For spouses in non-veteran relationships, this was arthritis (prevalence of 10%), asthma (8.4%), mental health conditions (7.9%), diabetes (6.2%), heart disease (4.7%), and cancer (3.8%).

The type of long-term health condition varied significantly by age group:

• Among younger civilian spouses (17–34 years) of veterans, mental health conditions were the most common type of long-term health condition (17%)
• For older civilian spouses (35 years and over) of veterans, arthritis was the most common (25%)
• The prevalence of arthritis, diabetes, cancer and heart disease increased with increasing age group
• Similar patterns were also observed among spouses in non-veteran relationships.

As noted earlier, spouses of current serving (permanent and reserves) members aged 55 years and over were younger than non-veteran spouses within the same age group. This age difference likely contributed to the lower prevalence of age-related conditions such as arthritis, diabetes, and heart disease in this group compared to the non-veteran population. Aside from this age-related variation, the prevalence of these health conditions among civilian spouses – both male and female – was generally similar to spouses of non-veterans, regardless of their partner’s service status.

Overall, there was a similar level of prevalence and patterns when comparing civilian spouses to non-veteran spouses across each of the age groups. The one exception to this was the higher prevalence of mental health conditions in civilian spouses compared to non-veteran spouses. This is examined in more detail in next section.