Serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members who have served since 1985: suicide monitoring 1997 to 2022

Suicide rates by year of hire

The experiences of Australian Defence Force (ADF) members may vary depending on when the ADF member was hired. In this report, ex-serving ADF members are grouped into one of 3 periods for time of hire:

• hired less than 10 years ago from 31 December 2022 (hired in 2013–2022)
• 10 to 20 years ago (2003–2012)
• 20 or more years ago (2002 or earlier).

Among ex-serving members, alive and deceased:

• 79% of males and 77% of females were hired 20 or more years ago (hired in 2002 or earlier)
• 16% of males and 15% of females were hired 10 to less than 20 years ago (hired in 2003 to 2012)
• 5.1% of males and 7.5% of females were hired less than 10 years ago (hired in 2013 to 2022).

The suicide rates for these year-of-hire groups are presented in Table 14 and Figure 23. Among ex-serving males, the rates of suicide are higher for those who were hired 10 to less than 20 years ago compared to those who were hired 20 or more years ago (38.4 and 30.1 per 100,000 population per year respectively). This trend was similarly observed among ex-serving females (28.4 and 13.7 per 100,000 population per year respectively).

There were no statistically significant differences observed between ex-serving males who were hired less than 10 years ago and the other year-of-hire groups. The suicide rate for ex-serving females who were hired less than 10 years ago is not shown due to the small number of suicides in this group.

Notes:

n.p. Not available for publication but included in totals where applicable.

* Suicide rates in this Table denoted with a '*' should be interpreted with caution as the number of suicides is fewer than 20. These rates are subject to large fluctuations.

Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence historical personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2022.

Figure 23: Suicide rate by year of hire, ex-serving males and females, 1997–2022

Notes: 

# Suicide rates in this Figure denoted with a '#' should be interpreted with caution as the number of suicides is fewer than 20. These rates are subject to large fluctuations.

The suicide rate for ex-serving females who were hired less than 10 years ago is not shown due to the small number of suicides in this group.

Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence historical personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2022.

While differences in the suicide rate were observed to be higher among ex-serving members who were hired 10 to less than 20 years ago compared to those hired 20 or more years ago, this should be interpreted with caution due to the difference in age structure and length of service between these 2 groups. 

For example, the majority of ex-serving members who were hired 10 to less than 20 years ago are under 50 years of age and have a shorter length of service, whereas ex-serving members who were hired 20 or more years ago are mostly age 50 years and over and had relatively a longer length of service. Because it was observed that ex-serving members who were aged 50 years and over or had a longer length of service had lower suicide rates compared to younger age groups (See Age) or those with a shorter length of service (See Length of service), the differences in the suicide rate by year of hire group may be due to the differences in age structure or length of service between the groups and not due to the varying experiences of ADF members upon hire at different points in time.

Analysis by year of hire group in the context of other ex-serving member characteristics including age group and length of service shows that the differences in suicide rates between year of hire groups are not statistically significant (See Modelling suicide rates).

Suicide rates by year of separation

Similar to the potential differences in an ADF member’s experience by when they were hired, one’s experience may vary by the year of separation from the ADF. In this report, ex-serving ADF members are grouped into 3 periods for time of separation: 

• separated less than 10 years ago from 31 December 2022 (separated in 2013–2022)
• 10 to 20 years ago (2003–2012)
• 20 or more years ago (2002 or earlier).

The proportions of ex-serving members, alive and deceased, by year of separation group are:

• for both males and females, 56% of ex-serving members separated 20 or more years ago (separated in 2002 or earlier)
• for males 19%, and for females 20% of ex-serving members separated 10 to less than 20 years ago (separated in 2003 to 2012)
• for both males and females, 24% of ex-serving members separated less than 10 years ago (separated in 2013 to 2022).

The suicide rates for these year-of-separation groups are presented in Table 15 and Figure 24. Note that the amount of time spent ex-serving is factored into the determination of rates. There were no statistically significant differences observed between the year-of-separation groups among ex-serving males or females.

Notes:

* Suicide rates in this Table denoted with a '*' should be interpreted with caution as the number of suicides is fewer than 20. These rates are subject to large fluctuations.

Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence historical personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2022.

Figure 24: Suicide rate by year of separation, ex-serving males and females, 1997–2022

Note: # Suicide rates in this Figure denoted with a '#' should be interpreted with caution as the number of suicides is fewer than 20. These rates are subject to large fluctuations.

Source: AIHW analysis of linked Defence historical personnel data–PMKeyS–NDI data 1985–2022.

Please note, data for more recent years are subject to change; see Technical notes for further detail.