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Department of Veterans' Affairs Annual Report 2018–19

Appendix A: Client overview

Total clients by age group and location

Table A1: Total DVA clients by age group and state as at 30 June 2019

Age range	NSW	Vic	Qld	SA	WA	Tas	NT	ACT	O’seas	Total
Under 25	1,642	952	3,044	447	548	136	372	304	26	7,471
25–29	2,179	989	3,421	607	614	138	441	359	28	8,776
30–34	2,679	1,318	3,658	652	858	182	419	492	56	10,314
35–39	2,641	1,468	3,767	621	1,066	312	414	537	91	10,917
40–44	2,698	1,511	3,898	670	1,102	313	331	552	100	11,175
45–49	3,372	1,897	4,926	855	1,477	393	427	744	146	14,237
50–54	3,304	2,050	4,731	889	1,561	411	327	728	157	14,158
55–59	3,723	2,341	5,099	1,095	1,556	505	265	802	160	15,546
60–64	4,338	2,833	5,658	1,386	1,877	546	181	628	150	17,597
65–69	8,137	5,443	9,594	2,736	3,006	985	193	699	183	30,976
70–74	13,099	9,006	14,056	4,072	5,148	1,553	258	1,096	357	48,645
75–79	5,424	3,047	6,111	1,356	2,160	559	116	570	157	19,500
80–84	5,108	2,888	4,586	1,112	1,921	464	49	494	131	16,753
85–89	6,659	4,325	4,570	1,618	1,982	649	49	426	126	20,404
90 or over	15,560	11,177	8,913	4,299	4,051	1,238	46	621	231	46,136
Total	80,575	51,267	86,042	22,421	28,938	8,386	3,889	9,056	2,100	292,674

Note: The total number of DVA clients includes any person in receipt of a pension/allowance from DVA or eligible for treatment or pharmaceuticals paid for by DVA. Clients of unknown age are included in the total but not reported separately.

Number of living veterans

Table A2: Estimated numbers of living veterans, 2014–15 to 2018–19

	At 30 June 2014	At 30 June 2015	At 30 June 2016	At 30 June 2017	At 30 June 2018	At 30 June 2019
Second World War¹	48,300	39,500	31,700	25,000	19,300	14,600
Korean War, Malayan Emergency and FESR²	13,000	12,300	11,700	11,000	10,300	9,600
Vietnam War³	45,200	44,300	43,400	42,500	41,500	40,400
Other pre-1972 conflicts	6,000	5,700	5,400	5,000	4,700	4,400
Cambodia, Gulf War, Namibia, Somalia,Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Bougainville	10,500	10,400	10,400	10,300	10,300	10,200
Post-1999 conflicts⁴	58,000	58,300	58,400	58,300	58,200	58,100
Peacetime Defence Force⁵	151,800	150,400	149,000	147,400	145,800	144,000
Total service with VEA eligibility⁶	331,200	319,500	308,600	298,200	288,700	280,000
Full-time service post 1945 not included in VEA total⁷	255,700	255,800	254,800	253,900	252,500	250,700
Reservists⁸	96,100	96,800	97,700	98,900	100,000	101,100
Total Australian service⁹	683 000	672 200	661,100	651,000	641,300	631,800

FESR = Far East Strategic Reserve; VEA = Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1986

¹ Based on nominal roll data.

² Where the veteran has service in more than one conflict, they are recorded by most recent conflict.

³ Based on nominal roll data.

⁴ Includes East Timor, Solomon Islands, Afghanistan and Iraq. This category previously included Bougainville, which is now included in the preceding category. Figures are based on June 2014 Department of Defence (Defence) data.

⁵ Based on Australian Defence Force (ADF) data; those with three or more years of service from 1972 to 1994. Those with peacetime service after 1994 are not included.

⁶ Total includes those potentially eligible for a service pension and/or disability pension. Components will not add exactly to total due to rounding and overlaps.

⁷ A research project was initiated to estimate all living persons with post-1945 full-time service in the ADF. By necessity, input data was obtained from different sources:

Age profile at recruitment is graphically estimated from Early Separation in the Australian Defence Force Figure 4.1, Distribution of Ab Initio Enlistment Ages, page 39.
National service recruitment data is sourced from the Defence discussion paper National Service—Have a Debate but Make Sure It is an Informed One.
The full-time enlistments data for each year from 1975 to 1998 were measured graphically from Joan Beaumont, Australian Defence: Sources & Statistics Volume VI, Figure 6.3, Permanent ADF Enlistments & Separations, page 252.
The full-time enlistments data for each year from 1996 to 2017 were sourced from published Defence annual reports obtained from the Department of Defence website.
Australian Bureau of Statistics mortality rates are used. Numbers are calculated by amalgamating successive years of recruits from 1945 onwards and amortising the resulting population by single year age for each year.

⁸ Includes all living persons who have ever served as a reservist in the ADF with neither continuous full-time nor qualifying service.

⁹ The growth in MRCA clients and the expansion of benefits to the widest possible number of (ex-)service ADF personnel necessitated redefinition of the total to include those who were not otherwise eligible under the VEA. This figure includes all living persons who have ever served in the ADF either full time or as reservists.

Benefit recipients

Table A3: Summary of benefit recipient numbers by type of benefit, June 2014 to June 2019

	At 30 June 2014	At 30 June 2015	At 30 June 2016	At 30 June 2017	At 30 June 2018	As at 30 June 2019
Treatment population	217,562	208,181	200,245	193,968	190,967	207,160
Gold Card	163,578	153,033	143,635	135,263	128,517	122,536
White Card	53,984	55,148	56,610	58,705	62,450	84,624
VEA pension and allowances
Service pension includes	136,168	126,647	118,174	106,970	99,939	94,029
veterans	71,266	66,016	61,504	55,641	52,011	48,958
partners	64,902	60,631	56,670	51,329	47,928	45,071
Income support supplement	61,463	56,725	52,292	47,036	42,464	38,403
SSA age pension	3,833	3,658	3,538	3,380	3,225	3,338
Veterans payment	n/a	n/a	n/a	n/a	134	470
Commonwealth Seniors Health Card	5,150	4,698	4,321	7,222	4,098	4,092
Disability pension	101,059	96,493	92,374	88,974	85,811	83,363
War widow/ers pension	81,531	75,536	69,960	64,500	59,001	53,899
POW recognition supplement¹	513	387	299	217	165	131
Orphan’s pension	177	173	150	157	155	148
Attendant allowance	457	403	353	304	273	229
Rent assistance	16,804	15,639	14,694	13,580	12,683	12,256
Remote area allowance	803	741	697	648	648	578
Decoration allowance	414	378	328	289	261	233
Recreation transport allowance	1,262	1,087	936	802	716	622
Vehicle Assistance Scheme	53	43	48	52	43	44
Funeral benefit	5,720	5,211	4,709	4,175	3,704	3,302
Veterans’ Children Education Scheme	2,443	2,331	2,288	2,243	2,229	2,106
Clothing allowance	511	449	398	348	322	286
Military compensation payments
Permanent impairment (SRCA)²	12,091	12,516	12,852	13,400	14,150	15,116
Permanent impairment (MRCA)²	4,467	6,021	7,659	9,544	12,414	16,021
Incapacity (SRCA)	1,867	1,807	1,777	1,792	1,874	1,920
Incapacity (MRCA)	2,062	2,484	2,689	3,218	3,893	4,717
Wholly dependent partner (MRCA)²	73	86	91	105	124	150
Eligible young person (MRCA)²	85	91	97	114	128	144
MRCA Education and Training Scheme	100	153	203	246	390	751
Defence Service Homes
Homes insured	65,292	62,127	58,825	55,838	53,641	52,243
Housing loan subsidies	12,799	10,296	8,322	6,669	4,960	3,925

DRCA = Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation (Defence-related Claims) Act 1988 (previously the Safety, Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 1988); MRCA = Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004; POW = prisoner of war; SSA = Social Security Act 1991; VEA = Veterans’ Entitlements Act 1985

¹ POW Recognition Supplement is a payment that provides special recognition of surviving former Australian prisoners of war, both veteran and civilian. The payment commenced in September 2011.

² Clients receiving a commuted or periodic (MRCA only) payment.

Veterans with accepted disability

Table A4: Number of veterans with accepted disability by Act, 2013–14 to 2018–19

	At 30 June 2014	At 30 June 2015	At 30 June 2016	At 30 June 2017	At 30 June 2018	At 30 June 2019
VEA	104,874	100,135	95,983	92,328	89,452	86,565
DRCA	50,153	50,689	51,320	51,956	52,528	54,181
MRCA	16,710	19,538	22,305	25,551	29,577	36,827

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