This report is the seventh annual update monitoring suicides among permanent, reserve and ex-serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members. The population of ADF members under consideration are those who served between 1985 and 2022. Permanent and reserve male ADF members die by suicide at about half the rate of Australians of similar age, while ex-serving male ADF members have a higher rate than Australian males.
- Cat. no: PHE 348
Findings from this report:
-
Serving permanent and reserve males are about half as likely to die by suicide as Australian males
-
Ex-serving males who separate voluntarily have a similar rate of suicide to Australian males
-
Ex-serving males who separate for involuntary medical have higher rates of suicide than males who separate voluntarily
-
Ex-serving males are on average 26% more likely to die by suicide than Australian males