This report is the fourth annual update into suicides among permanent1, reserve and ex-serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members and the first to include the population of ADF members who served in the ADF between 1985 and 2019 by using data from historical ADF personnel systems. Permanent and reserve male ADF members die by suicide at about half the rate of Australians of similar age and gender, while, ex-serving male members have a higher rate than Australian males.
- DOI: 10.25816/yjtd-1f81
- Cat. no: PHE 290
- Pages: 92
Findings from this report:
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Permanent and reserve males are about half as likely to die by suicide as Australian males
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Ex-serving males are around 24% more likely to die by suicide than Australian males
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Ex-serving males who separate voluntarily have a similar rate of suicide to Australian males
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Ex-serving males who separate for involuntary medical have higher rates of suicide than males who separate voluntarily
- In previous reports permanent ADF members were referred to as ‘serving’, there has however been no methodological change and the term is comparable to previous reports.