Australian Defence Industry Account, experimental estimates

Latest release

Estimates of the defence industry's direct contribution to the Australian economy

Cite
Print
Reference period
2024-25 financial year
Release date and time
17/04/2026 11:30am AEST

Key statistics

In 2024-25, the Australian defence industry:

  • contributed $12.0 billion to Australia’s gross value added, up 1.2% from the previous year
  • employed 63,500 persons, down 2.6% from the previous year's high
  • consisted of 5,165 Australian businesses
  • represented 0.46% of the total economy's GVA.

Australian defence industry account

For an activity to be counted in the Australian Defence Industry Account (ADIA), it must involve a direct transaction between the Department of Defence and an Australian supplier of goods or services. Only invoices issued by the supplier to the Department of Defence are included in the production of the account. For instance, if a manufacturer produces goods for multiple sectors of the economy, the ADIA records only the portion of activity directly related to defence.

Defence industry Gross Value Added (GVA)

Gross Value Added (GVA) measures the additional economic value generated through the production of goods or the provision of services. It is calculated by subtracting the cost of the intermediate inputs used in production from the revenue received for the goods produced or services provided. GVA estimates enable analysis of the contribution of an industry or sub-sector to the economy.

GVA from Defence expenditure has continued its pattern of year on year growth, contributing $12.0 billion to the Australian economy in 2024-25. This was nearly double the amount reported at the start of series in 2016-17. Defence industry share of GVA was 0.46% of the total economy in 2024-25.

  1. This contribution does not reflect the total contribution of the Defence portfolio to the Australian economy. It only captures the GVA generated by the invoiced expenditure made by the Department of Defence within the scope of the Australian economy.

Industry overview

The largest industry divisions contributing to defence industry GVA in 2024-25 were:

  • Professional, scientific and technical services with $5.0 billion or 42% of GVA
  • Manufacturing with $2.2 billion or 18% of GVA
  • Construction with $1.8 billion or 15% of GVA.

Combined, these industries account for 75% of the total defence industry GVA.

Increasing complexity of systems and processes mean that defence projects depend on engineering, computer system design, and other specialised technical skills, which are undertaken by the professional, scientific, and technical services industry. The development of domestic production capacity and the construction and maintenance of physical infrastructure is reflected in the continued significance of the manufacturing and construction industries.

At the subdivision level the main contributors to defence industry GVA in 2024-25 were:

  • Professional, scientific, and technical services (not including computer system design and related services) with $3.3 billion or 28% of GVA
  • Transport equipment manufacturing with $1.7 billion or 14% of GVA
  • Computer system design and related services with $1.7 billion or 14% of GVA
  • Building construction with $945 million or 7.8% of GVA.

State overview

The largest contributors to defence industry GVA by state in 2024-25 were:

  • New South Wales $3.2 billion
  • Victoria $2.4 billion
  • ACT $2.1 billion
  • South Australia $2.0 billion.

 

(a) Defence GVA to external territories has been included in the nearest physical state/territory.

Business counts

Nationwide, 5,165 Australian businesses contributed to the Australian defence industry in 2024-25. The industries with the highest number of businesses were:

  • Professional, scientific and technical services (1,371 businesses)
  • Manufacturing (850 businesses)
  • Education and training (440 businesses).

Employment overview

Defence industry direct employment

The number of employees associated with the defence industry is derived from the proportion of employee headcount funded by defence payments. The employment estimates include all part-time and full-time employees, and will count employees multiple times if they work for more than one business. It should also be noted that employment estimates are reported to the nearest 100 value and some differences between sub-items and totals may occur due to rounding.

The number of employees associated with defence expenditure decreased by 1,700 (2.6%) from 65,200 in 2023-24 to 63,500 in 2024-25. In comparison, total employed persons in Australia grew by 2.1%.

Defence related employment represented 0.43% of all employment in the economy in 2024-25.

The main industries contributing to defence industry employment were:

  • Professional, scientific, and technical services (22,100 employees)
  • Construction (12,500 employees)
  • Manufacturing (12,400 employees).

Combined, these industries consistently contributed around 70% of the total defence industry employment between 2019-20 and 2024-25.

  1. Employment estimates are reported to the nearest 100 value and differences between sums of division estimates and reported totals may occur due to rounding.

The states with the highest direct employment headcount were:

  • New South Wales (19,800 employees)
  • Victoria (12,900 employees)
  • South Australia (11,300 employees).

The fall in direct employment headcount between 2023-24 and 2024-25 was driven by:

  • New South Wales (down 1,800 employees)
  • Queensland (down 600 employees)
  • Western Australia (down 500 employees).

These falls were partially offset by an increase in:

  • Australian Capital Territory (up 1,000 employees).

(a) Defence employment headcount in external territories has been included in the nearest physical state/territory.

Revisions

Users should be aware that there are revisions in this release due to the availability of updated Supply Use data, changes in some reported data and process improvements related to the production of employment estimates.

Changes in this issue

The method used to calculate Defence employment has been improved. This has led to revisions to all employment estimates this year. The revised estimates should not be compared with previously released estimates.

Data downloads

Australian defence industry data cube

Data files
Download xlsx [150.96 KB]

Methodology

Scope

Limited to Australian organisations that have received payments from the department of defence for goods produced or services provided in Australia.

Geography

  • Australia
  • States and territories

Source

  • Defence Finance Group (DFG) dataset
  • Australian National Accounts: Supply-Use Tables
  • ABS Business Register
  • Business Activity Statements

Collection method

Transactions data are received from the Department of Defence.

Concepts, sources and methods

The ADIA is intended to show the contribution of defence expenditure within the Australian economy by calculating the gross value added and employment that is supported by this expenditure.

History of changes

The system for deriving defence employment was revised in 2025, with amendments applied to the full time series.

View full methodology