Health of veterans is an Australia's health topic

While good health is a requirement for joining the Australian Defence Force (ADF), the experience of military service means current and ex-serving ADF members may have different health challenges compared to other Australians. This is why monitoring of the health and wellbeing of the ADF veteran population is important.

Who are veterans?

This page generally defines veterans as current or ex-serving members of the ADF, including both permanent members and Reservists. Non-veterans are those who have never served in the ADF. Where different definitions are occasionally used on this page, this is noted.

Key findings

Male veterans have higher rates of long-term health conditions than non-veteran males

Male veterans have similar risk factors for ill health to non-veteran males

Ex-serving veterans are more likely to need assistance with core activities than non-veterans

Australia’s veteran population

According to the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, more than half a million Australians (581,000) have ever served in the ADF, representing 2.8% of Australians aged 15 and over. Around 84,900 (15%) are currently serving ADF members (60,300 permanent and 24,600 reservists), and over 496,000 (85%) are ex-serving (ABS 2022a).

The age and sex profile of veterans is different to non-veterans (Figure 1):

  • Veterans are mostly male – 86% (497,000) compared to 48% of non-veterans aged 15 and over. Fourteen per cent (84,100) of veterans are female.
  • Ex-serving veterans are an older population – 53% (263,000) are aged 65 years and over, compared with 20% of the non-veterans aged 15 and over (ABS 2022a).

This means that some health issues that are more common in males and older people will be more common in veterans compared to non-veterans.

Figure 1: Australian veteran and non-veteran populations, by sex and age group, 2021

Two butterfly charts show the age distributions of males and females, disaggregated by whether they were a veteran. The veteran chart shows a skew towards older age in both males and females.

Health status

Self-assessed health

In 2020–21, male veterans were less likely to rate their health as excellent or very good than male non-veterans (45% compared with 57%, respectively). This may be explained in part by the older age of Australia’s male veteran population (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023).

Long-term health conditions

In 2020–21, male veterans reported a higher prevalence of several long-term health conditions than male non-veterans (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023) (Figure 2). Similarly to self-assessed health, this may be explained by the older age of Australia’s male veteran population.

The prevalence of different long-term health conditions among male veterans was similar between veterans who were clients and/or beneficiaries of DVA, and non-DVA veterans (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023).

Figure 2: Long-term health conditions by veteran status, males aged 18 and over, 2020–21

The bar chart compares rates of long-term health conditions in male veterans and male non-veterans. It shows that rates were higher among male veterans for back problems; arthritis; heart, stroke and vascular disease; diabetes; and cancer.


Source: AIHW analysis of ABS 2023.

Mental health

Mental health conditions from the 2020–22 NSMHW

In the 2020–22 NSMHW, veterans were less likely to have reported a mental health disorder in the previous 12 months than non-veterans (17% compared with 22%, respectively). In particular, they were less likely to have reported an anxiety disorder in the previous 12 months (14% compared with 17%, respectively). Rates of affective disorders (7.7%) and substance use disorders (2.4%) among these veterans were similar to non-veterans (7.5% and 3.3%, respectively) (ABS 2022b).

Mental health conditions from the 2020–21 NHS

In 2020–21 NHS, male veterans were more likely to report a current and long-term mental or behavioural condition than male non-veterans (27% compared with 17%, respectively). In particular, they were nearly twice as likely (21%) to report having a long-term anxiety-related disorder compared with male non-veterans (11%) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023).

Mental health consultations

The 2020–21 NSMHW showed that around 17% of all veterans had at least one mental health related consultation with a health professional in the previous 12 months. This was similar to non-veterans (17%) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b).

Self-harm and suicidal thoughts and behaviours

The 2020–21 NSMHW found that around 1 in 15 (6.4%) of all veterans reported having self-harmed in their lifetime, compared with around 8.5% of non-veterans (AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b).

Rates of suicidal thoughts and behaviours over the lifetime were similar between veterans and non-veterans:

  • 19% of all veterans and 16% of non-veterans had experienced suicidal thoughts.
  • 8.6% of all veterans and 7.7% of non-veterans had made suicide plans.
  • 7.8% of all veterans and 4.7% of non-veterans had attempted suicide (AIHW analysis of ABS 2022b).

However, this may not reflect the experiences of all sub-populations of Australia’s veterans.

Disability

According to self-reported data from the 2020–21 NHS, almost 2 in 5 (37%) male veterans had a disability with a limitation or restriction, while 1 in 5 (20%) had a disability but with no limitation or restriction. These proportions were around twice as high as those of male non-veterans (17% and 12%, respectively) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2022a).

Among the 496,000 ex-serving veterans aged 15 years and over captured within the 2021 Census of Population and Housing, 13% need assistance with core activities including self-care, body movement and communication, due to a long-term health condition or disability (ABS 2022a). Ex-serving veterans who served in the regular forces were more likely to need assistance with core activities than non-veterans, regardless of age (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Proportion of veterans needing assistance with core activities, by type of previous service and age group, 2021

The bar chart compares rates of needing assistance with core activities between different types of ex-serving veterans and non-veterans over different age groups. It shows that, regardless of age, ex-serving veterans who served in the regular service had higher rates of needing assistance.


Source: ABS 2022c

Health risk factors

According to self-reported data from the 2020–21 NHS, male veterans had similar risk factors for ill health to male non-veterans, including:

  • daily smoking (11% compared with 13%)
  • excessive alcohol consumption (40% compared with 33%)
  • insufficient fruit consumption (55% for both)
  • insufficient vegetable consumption (94% compared with 96%)
  • insufficient physical activity (70% for both).

Male veterans were more likely to be overweight or obese than male non-veterans (75% compared with 61%) (AIHW analysis of ABS 2023), although the fact that the body-mass index (BMI) methodology does not distinguish between the weight of fat or muscle in an individual should be noted (Health Direct 2024).

Deaths

Between 2001 and 2019, there were 12,060 deaths among people with at least one day of ADF service since 1 January 1985. Of these, around 10,800 (89%) occurred among ex-serving ADF members, almost 600 (5.0%) among permanent ADF members and 680 (5.6%) among Reservists.

Between 2002 and 2019, age-specific rates across all causes of deaths for permanent, reserve, or ex-serving ADF males were lower than rates for all Australian males (Figure 4). The exception to this was for ex-serving ADF males aged 16–29, where the rate was higher.

Age-specific rates across all causes of death for permanent and reserve ADF females were lower than rates for all Australian females (Figure 4). Compared with all Australian females:

  • ex-serving ADF females aged 16–29 had a higher rate across all causes of death.
  • ex-serving ADF females aged 30–49 had a similar rate.
  • ex-serving ADF females aged 50–70 had a lower rate.

Figure 4: Age-specific rates for all causes of death for veterans and all Australians, by age group and sex, 2002–2019

The bar chart compares rates of all-cause mortality between different types of veterans and non-veterans, disaggregated by age and sex. It shows that rates were generally lower than people in the broader Australian population, regardless of age, sex or type of veteran.

Notes

  1. Rate of all-cause mortality in the Australian population matched by sex and within the same age range.
  2. Includes veterans with at least 1 day of service since 1 January 1985.

Leading causes of death

Figure 5 provides the top leading causes of death in permanent, reserve, and ex-serving veteran males and ex-serving veteran females for 2002–2019 for age groups, with the Australian comparison.

For permanent, reserve, and ex-serving ADF males, and all males in the Australian population aged 16–49, the leading cause of death was suicide, except for permanent males aged 16–29 where the leading cause was land transport accidents. For those aged 50 years and over, the leading cause of death for all groups was coronary heart disease.

The leading cause of death for ex-serving ADF females, and all females in the Australian population was death by suicide for those aged 16–29. For those aged 30–49 and 50 years and over, the leading cause of death varied for ex-serving ADF females, and females in the Australian population.

Figure 5: Leading causes of death among veterans and all Australians, by sex, age group and service status, 2002–2019

The matrix chart shows the leading causes of death by age, sex, and type of veteran. It shows that suicide was often the leading causes of death among males and females aged 49 years and younger, regardless of whether they were a veteran.

Notes

  1. Male results exclude 174 male deaths that have no underlying cause recorded.
  2. Female results exclude one female death that has no underlying cause recorded.
  3. Proportions are of all deaths with an underlying cause of death within each age group.

Deaths by suicide

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Between 1997 and 2021, males currently serving in the permanent or reserve forces were around half as likely to die by suicide as all Australian males. However, ex-serving males were 26% more likely to die by suicide than all Australian males (AIHW 2023a).

While the rate of suicide for ex-serving females was lower than that for ex-serving males, ex-serving females were more than twice as likely to die by suicide than all Australian females.

The suicide rate for ex-serving males who separated involuntarily for medical reasons was around three times the rate of those who separate voluntarily (67.1 compared with 21.5 per 100,000 population per year). However, the suicide rate for ex-serving females was similar between those who separated involuntarily for medical reasons and those who separated voluntarily.

Health service use

Medicines

In 2017–18, more than 1 million medications were dispensed under the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme/Repatriation Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS/RPBS) to around 70,000 ex-serving veterans with service between 1 January 2001 and 1 July 2017. This was an average of 16 medications dispensed per person.

After accounting for age and sex differences, similar proportions of ex-serving veterans and all Australians were dispensed medications in 2017–18 (72% and 71%, respectively) (AIHW 2019).

Hospitalisations

Who funds veteran hospitalisations?

Hospital care for veterans is generally funded by the Department of Defence for permanent and reserve ADF members, while DVA generally funds hospital care for eligible ex-serving ADF members and eligible dependants.

Individuals are asked on presentation at a hospital if they are eligible. If a veteran does not identify as a veteran on presentation at a hospital, the hospital care they receive is funded the same way as non-veterans.

In 2021–22, around 11,800 hospitalisations were funded by the Department of Defence, and 179,000 were funded by DVA. Combined, this represented 1.6% of all hospitalisations. DVA- and Defence-funded hospitalisations occurred most frequently in private hospitals (73% of DVA-funded hospitalisations and 89% of Department-of-Defence-funded hospitalisations). For all other Australian hospitalisations, 40% were in private hospitals.

DVA-funded hospitalisations decreased by 6.6% on average each year between 2017–18 and 2021–22, while total hospitalisations in Australia increased by an average of 0.9% over the same time period.

Between 2017–18 and 2021–22, the number of DVA admitted patient days decreased by 8.5% on average each year (Figure 6). This may be due to the declining number of DVA-funded hospitalisations, potentially caused, in part, by the declining number of the older DVA Gold Card population and increasing number of younger DVA White Card holders (DVA 2023). In comparison, patient days across all Australian funding sources has remained relatively stable over the same period, increasing by 1.3% on average each year (AIHW 2023b).

Figure 6: Department of Veterans’ Affairs funded hospital patient days, 2017–18 to 2021–22

The stacked line chart shows the number of patient days funded by DVA between the 2017-18 and 2021-22 financial years. It shows that they have been decreasing consistently over the period.


Source: AIHW (2023b) Admitted patient care 2021–22 7: Costing and funding, Table S7.2.

Health expenditure

DVA health expenditure

In 2021–22, DVA spent $2.8 billion on health, mostly on hospital services ($1.0 billion), primary health care ($0.7 billion) and referred medical services ($0.6 billion) (AIHW 2023c). DVA spending on health declined in real terms over the decade to 2021–22 across several areas of spending:

  • public hospitals (decreased an average of 8.8% per year)
  • private hospitals (decreased an average of 6.4% per year)
  • primary health care (decreased an average of 4.1% per year)
  • referred medical services (decreased an average of 2.2% per year).

Based on the number of people in the DVA treatment population (which includes all DVA Orange, Gold and White cardholders), DVA spent $10,190 on health per member of the treatment population in 2021–22, which is 8.8% higher than the health spending per person in the total Australian population ($9,365). This average health spending per member of the DVA treatment population peaked in 2014–15 and decreased over the period 2015–16 to 2021–22. This recent downward trend in the health spending per member of the DVA treatment population is due to the decline in the number of Veteran Gold Card Holders and increase in those of Veteran White Card Holders. DVA will pay for the hospital treatment costs for Veteran White Card holders for accepted conditions or conditions under non-liability health care whereas all hospital services that meet the clinical needs of Veteran Gold Card holders are paid by DVA (AIHW 2023c).

Defence health expenditure

In 2021–22, the Department of Defence (Joint Health Command) spent $568 million on health. This was a decrease of 4.2% ($25.0 million) from 2020–21 in real terms. In descending order, the areas of spending were:

  • other health practitioners ($164 million)
  • referred medical services ($128 million)
  • unreferred medical services ($88 million)
  • private hospitals ($74 million)
  • dental services ($52 million)
  • administration ($37 million).

Where do I go for more information?

Visit Veterans for more on this topic.

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