Summary
Veteran families may experience unique opportunities and challenges related to service in the Australian Defence Force (ADF). Reporting on the health of the civilian spouse provides important contextual information that can be used to inform targeted support services and improve long-term outcomes for the wellbeing of veterans and their families.
This report, commissioned by the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, is the first of its kind to examine the demographic characteristics and long-term health conditions of civilian spouses living with their veteran partners in Australia. It leverages the 2021 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) Census of Population and Housing linked with Defence Personnel data via the Person Level Integrated Data Asset (PLIDA), providing a valuable snapshot of this population.
The report does not establish causal links between the veteran partner’s service history and with the demographic characteristics or the presence health conditions in their spouse. While comparisons to other population groups are provided, they are purely for the purpose of context. Any differences between veteran and non-veteran-related groups cannot be directly attributed to ADF service.
In the 2021 Census, 315,000 civilians were identified as a spouse living with a veteran, representing 3.0% of all spouses living together on Census night. ‘Spouse’ in the context of this report refers to the usually resident husband, wife, partner or de facto partner living in the same couple family as the reference person. A ‘civilian’ spouse’ in this report refers to spouses who have never served in the ADF. Spouses who were living away from their veteran partner could not be counted in this report.
Among civilian spouses of veterans, 6.7% (21,000) were the spouse of a current serving permanent member, 3.9% (12,400) were the spouse of a current serving reserves member and 89% (281,300) were the spouse of an ex-serving member.
Most civilian spouses of veterans were female (94%) with only 6.1% being male. This mirrors the sex distribution of veterans who are predominantly male. Sixty-four percent (201,000) of all civilian spouses of veterans did not have children living with them while 36% (114,000) had children (of any age) living with them on Census night.
This report presents demographic data for civilian spouses of veterans by employment status, weekly personal income, highest level of educational attainment, and housing type. Health data for civilian spouses of veterans by sex and whether child/children are living in the household are presented. Data for civilian spouses are also presented according to the service-related characteristics of the veteran partner, by linking the 2021 Census with Defence personnel data.
Just over half (52% or 162,500) of civilian spouses of veterans and 36% of spouses in non-veteran relationships had one or more long-term health conditions.
A higher prevalence of mental health conditions was observed among female spouses who had a veteran partner and who were not in the labour force, had lower incomes, had lower education levels, and provided unpaid domestic work.
The observations in this report suggest that certain groups of spouses may be more vulnerable than others, and further research will aid our understanding and facilitate the delivery of support services for veteran families.