2024 Canadian Veteran Health Survey: Findings on the service to civilian transition
Released: 2025-11-06
Each year, thousands of members of the Canadian Armed Forces transition from military to post-service life. Not all Veterans share the same experience with transitioning to civilian life and there are several factors associated with an easier transition. New results from the 2024 Canadian Veteran Health Survey (CVHS), which provides information on the transition from military to civilian life, general health and well-being, chronic health conditions and labour force participation, are now available. According to the CVHS, in 2024, 84.8% of Veterans in Canada were men and 15.2% were women.
About three in five Veterans describe their transition to civilian life as easy
In 2024, 60.9% of Veterans described their transition to civilian life as easy, with women (61.8%) being slightly more likely than men (60.1%) to report this being the case. By contrast, 17.7% of Veterans described the transition as difficult and 21.3% described it as neither difficult nor easy.
With more time that passed since their release from service, Veterans were more likely to report having an easier transition to civilian life. Veterans who were released more than 20 years ago were more likely to report their transition to civilian life being easy (66.4%), compared with those who were released 5 years ago or less (46.1%).
Recently released women in particular were less likely to report having an easy transition. Just over one in three women (34.2%) who were released in the past five years reported their transition to civilian life being easy. This figure is almost 14 percentage points lower than that of men (47.9%).
Service history impacts the ease of transition to civilian life for Veterans. Those with shorter periods of service were more likely to describe their transition as easy. For example, close to 7 in 10 Veterans (69.5%) who served for a period of 5 years or less described their transition as easy, compared with 38.1% of those who served for 16 to 20 years.
In addition to the length of service, deployment experience also plays a role in shaping Veterans' transition to civilian life. Indeed, 7 in 10 Veterans (69.9%) who had no deployment experience described their transition to civilian life as easy, compared with 1 in 2 Veterans (50.0%) who had deployment experience.
In 2024, 37.6% of Veterans reported having served in the Reserve Force only, while 50.0% served in the Regular Force only and 12.4% had experience in both. There was a notable difference by gender: 45.6% of women Veterans served in the Reserve Force only, compared with 36.1% of men. The adjustment to civilian life also varied by type of service: 57.4% of Veterans who served in the Regular Force only described their transition to civilian life as easy, compared with 70.7% of Veterans who had Reserve Force service only.
More than four in five Veterans who work at a job or business are satisfied or very satisfied with their main activity
One important determinant of a successful transition to civilian life is finding satisfying work. Satisfying work may help Veterans regain a sense of purpose, build social connections and achieve financial and emotional stability, all of which could support a successful transition to civilian life.
In 2024, the average age of Veterans at the time of their release from service was 30 years, which is within the core working age (25 to 54 years). That year, 84.5% of Veterans who were core working age reported working at a job or business as their main activity, a proportion similar to that of the general population (83.8%). Of core-working-age Veterans who reported working at a job or business as their main activity, 80.3% reported being satisfied or very satisfied with their main activity.
The role of finding satisfactory work after service is associated with an easier transition to civilian life. Veterans reporting an easy transition to civilian life were more likely to have found satisfactory work (87.8%) compared with those reporting a difficult transition (58.8%).
Chart 1
Main activities of the total Veteran population
Veterans reporting an easy transition are more likely to also report having a strong sense of belonging to their local community
Being socially connected with their local community can help support Veterans in their transition to civilian life. Overall, three in five Veterans (60.2%) reported having a strong sense of belonging to their local community in 2024, a rate similar to that of the overall Canadian population (61.1%).
This sense of belonging, however, differed across age groups. Among Veterans aged 19 to 39 years, less than half (44.6%) reported having a strong sense of belonging to their local community, a proportion lower than that of the rest of the Canadian population in the same age group (56.1%). Women Veterans (57.3%) were slightly less likely than men Veterans (60.7%) to report having a strong sense of belonging to their local community.
A strong sense of belonging to the local community can help Veterans build social support, find purpose and access resources, which are factors that contribute to a successful transition to civilian life. Of the Veterans who reported having an easy adjustment to civilian life, 70.0% reported having a strong sense of belonging to their local community, compared with 38.3% of those who reported having a difficult transition.
Note to readers
The Canadian Veteran Health Survey (CVHS) is a cross-sectional survey that collects information on the transition from military to civilian life, general health and well-being, chronic health conditions, labour force participation and other related information. An important goal of the survey is to understand the transition period from military to civilian life and health outcomes among Canadian Veterans. The questionnaire is largely comprised of Canadian Community Health Survey (CCHS) content, and the results from the survey can be used to compare the health status of Canadian Veterans with that of other Canadians.
The target population of the CVHS is Veterans who were released from service prior to February 2024, who were not re-enlisted at the time of the survey and not still serving in the forces. Veterans in the target population were to be living in the provinces of Canada and 18 years or older. Specifically excluded were Veterans living in the territories, people living on a reserve and people living in institutions.
The term "Reserve Force" also includes members of the Canadian Rangers and the Cadet Organizations Administration and Training Service instructors.
The CCHS is a cross-sectional survey that collects information related to health status, health care utilization and health determinants for the Canadian population. The CCHS covers the population 18 years and older living in the provinces and territories. Excluded from the survey's coverage are persons living on reserves and other Aboriginal settlements in the provinces, full-time members of the Canadian Forces, the institutionalized population and persons living in the Quebec health regions of Région du Nunavik and Région des Terres-Cries-de-la-Baie-James. Altogether, these exclusions represent less than 3.0% of the Canadian population aged 18 years and older.
The Labour Force Survey is a monthly survey that measures the current state of the Canadian labour market and is used, among other things, to calculate the national, provincial, territorial and regional employment and unemployment rates.
Core working age is defined as individuals aged 25 to 54 years. While the broader working-age population includes persons aged 15 years and older, the core working-age group concentrates on persons with the highest levels of labour force participation and attachment.
Sense of belonging to a local community was measured using the following question in the CVHS and CCHS: "How would you describe your sense of belonging to your local community?" Responses of "very strong" or "somewhat strong" were used in this release to indicate having a strong sense of belonging to a local community. Sense of belonging figures for the non-Veteran population are based on results from the CCHS.
Adjustment to civilian life was measured using the following question in the CVHS: "In general, how has the adjustment to civilian life been since you were released from the Canadian Armed Forces?" Responses of "very easy" or "moderately easy" were used in this release to indicate having an easy transition to civilian life. Responses of "very difficult" or "moderately difficult" were used in this release to indicate having a difficult transition to civilian life.
Given that the non-binary population is small, data aggregation to a two-category gender variable is sometimes necessary to protect the confidentiality of responses. In these cases, individuals in the category "non-binary persons" are distributed into the other two gender categories. Unless otherwise indicated in the text, the category "men" includes men, as well as some non-binary persons, while the category "women" includes women, as well as some non-binary persons.
Additional information:
Department of National Defence. (2025). Introduction to the Transition Guide. Canadian Armed Forces Transition Group.
Veterans Affairs Canada. (2024). Service after service: The National Veterans Employment Strategy.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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