ADF suicide deaths 1985–1996
ADF suicide deaths in the period 1 January 1985 to 31 December 1996
This publication reports 1,840 confirmed suicide deaths that occurred between 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2023 among ADF members who have served at least one day since 1 January 1985.
There were also 353 confirmed suicide deaths identified by analysis of the period 1 January 1985 and 31 December 1996. That is, a total of 2,193 confirmed suicide deaths occurred between 1 January 1985 to 31 December 2023 among ADF members who have served at least one day since 1 January 1985.
Confirmed suicide deaths prior to 1997 were not included in the analysis due to limitations in identifying information in the National Death Index (NDI), resulting in poorer linkage of the NDI dataset to Defence personnel data. Therefore, while there is confidence that all included suicide deaths are confirmed ADF member suicide deaths, there may be more ADF member suicide deaths that are unlinked and unknown. Consequently, any population-level study analysis of suicide deaths during this period would be misleading.
For completeness, the number of confirmed suicides deaths per year from 1985 to 1996 are presented in Table 1.
Year | Permanent and Reserve | Ex-serving | Total in all ADF service groups(a) |
|---|---|---|---|
1985 | n.p. | n.p. | 14 |
1986 | n.p. | n.p. | 9 |
1987 | 9 | 5 | 14 |
1988 | 5 | 8 | 13 |
1989 | 9 | 15 | 24 |
1990 | 7 | 17 | 24 |
1991 | 12 | 20 | 32 |
1992 | 12 | 25 | 37 |
1993 | 15 | 32 | 47 |
1994 | 8 | 36 | 44 |
1995 | 9 | 41 | 50 |
1996 | 13 | 32 | 45 |
Total(b) | 119 | 234 | 353 |
n.p. Not available for publication but included in totals where applicable, unless otherwise indicated. In this case, the numbers of suicide deaths are not included to manage disclosure risk due to low numbers.
Notes:
- Consists of deaths by suicide in males and females for permanent, reserve and ex-serving ADF members.
- Suicide deaths are likely to be under-reported for the period 1985 to 1996, as there are gaps in identifying data in the National Death Index (NDI) dataset, which limits the ability to link to Defence personnel data. Therefore, while there is confidence that all included suicide deaths are confirmed ADF member suicide deaths, there may be more ADF member suicide deaths that are unlinked and unknown.
Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence historical personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2023.