The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) says suicide remains the leading cause of death for younger ex-serving ADF members. Photo: ADF.
The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) has released its annual report on deaths by suicide among permanent, reserve and ex-serving members of the Australian Defence Force (ADF).
Unrelated to the Royal Commission into Defence and Veterans Suicide report which was delivered to the Governor-General on 9 September after more than three years of hearings, the AIHW report provides annual updates on deaths by suicide among ADF members who served at least one day since January 1985, and died between 1997 and 2022.
The report, entitled Serving and ex-serving Australian Defence Force members who have served since 1985: suicide monitoring 1997 to 2022, said there were 1763 deaths by suicide between 1997 and 2022, with the majority of 1464 being ex-serving members, followed by permanent members with 174, and reserves at 125.
By all measures these are tragic numbers and are in stark contrast to the 76 ADF personnel who have lost their lives while deployed on operations in Timor Leste, Iraq, Afghanistan and several peacekeeping missions over the same period.
AIHW spokesperson Paul Pham said every life lost to suicide was a deep tragedy, and the impact on their loved ones was profound and far-reaching, including on Australia’s defence and veteran community.
“This ongoing body of work aims to inform improvements in suicide awareness and prevention for ADF personnel and their families,” he said.
The report says preliminary data for 2020–2022 shows the suicide rates (deaths per 100,000 population per year) for the most recent three-year period were 27.6 for ex-serving males, 18.5 for permanent males, 13.4 for reserve males and 12.6 for ex-serving females.
The suicide rate for ex-serving males has tended to be slightly lower each three-year period since 2014–2016, including 2020–2022. But it notes that it is difficult to identify a trend as deaths by suicide are often subject to lengthy coronial processes, and preliminary data may be revised upward as death records are finalised for the most recent years.
Sadly, suicide remains the leading cause of death for younger ex-serving ADF members, the report says. Between 1997 and 2022, for ex-serving males and females aged under 30, suicide accounted for 42 per cent and 44 per cent of deaths respectively.
It says, while the suicide rate for ex-serving males who left the ADF voluntarily was similar to the general Australian male population at 22 per 100,000 population, the rate for ex-serving males who separate involuntarily for medical reasons is almost three times higher at 62.7 per 100,000.
For ex-serving females, there was no statistically significant difference between those who separated involuntarily for medical reasons and those who separated voluntarily.
The final report of the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide contains 122 recommendations and over 3000 pages of evidence, commentary and findings across seven volumes, and the government is currently considering its response to that report.
Mr Pham said, “The AIHW looks forward to playing its part in the government’s response to the royal commission.”
If this article has raised any issues for you, please contact one of the following services:
- Open Arms – Veterans and Families Counselling 1800 011 046. Open Arms Suicide Intervention page
- Defence All-hours Support Line 1800 628 036
- Defence Member and Family Helpline 1800 624 608
- Defence Chaplaincy Support 1300 333 362
- ADF Mental Health Services
- Lifeline 13 11 14
- Suicide Call Back Service 1300 659 467
- Beyond Blue Support Service 1300 22 4636.
