Statistics: UK drowning fatalities by activity

Feb 08, 2022

STATISTICAL BULLETIN

The following drowning fatality statistics were published in the annual reports of the United Kingdom Water Accident and Incident Database (WAID).

Trends in UK drowning fatalities by activity type

Walking and running by the side of the water is still the most dangerous activity that proceeds a drowning fatality in the UK, constituting 34% of all drowning fatalities. This is against a backdrop of growth in running and jogging activities.
Watersports are some of the safest activities to undertake in or around water, with the following sports contributing little to overall drowning fatality numbers between 2013 and 2020: wind/kite surfing (1%), sailing (2%), climbing (1%), surfing (<1%). This is against a backdrop of growth in watersports activities.
Motorised vehicles, motorised boats, and manually powered boats collectively constitute 10% of overall drowning fatalities between 2013 and 2020.
Drowning fatalities involving pet rescue and falling through ice constitute less than 1% of incidents between 2013 and 2020 collectively.
The risks posed by subaqua and fishing activities should not be ignored, collectively contributing 8% of drowning fatalities between 2013 and 2020. This is against a backdrop of a largely static landscape in the number participating in fishing.

Table 1: UK drowning fatalities by year and activity type as reported by UK WAID.

Activity type	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total	%	% Change (2013-2020)	Rate of injury per 100,000 of population
Adventure	28	26	18	23	27	26	22	21	191	8%	-25%	5.52
Travel	21	21	39	42	19	23	18	26	209	9%	24%	6.04
Land-based	146	173	121	94	118	109	93	106	960	41%	-27%	27.75
Recreation	114	84	86	82	66	72	80	91	675	29%	-20%	19.51
Other	9	11	14	11	11	12	4	9	81	3%	0%	2.34
Unknown	63	23	43	33	14	21	6	1	204	9%	-98%	5.90

Table 2: UK drowning fatalities by year, activity, and activity type as reported by the UK WAID.

Activity	Activity type	2013	2014	2015	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020	Total	%	% Change (2013-2020)	Rate of injury per 100,000 of population
Angling	Recreation	14	14	16	13	10	11	5	10	93	4%	-29	2.69
Animal rescue	Other	1	4	3	3	1	1	1	4	18	1%	+300	0.52
Bath	Other	8	7	11	8	10	11	3	5	63	3%	-38	1.82
Caving	Adventure	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	1	0%	+100	0.03
Climbing	Adventure	3	2	2	1	1	1	1	3	14	1%	0	0.40
Commercial	Travel	13	7	29	25	7	12	8	10	111	5%	-23	3.21
Cycling	Land-based	2	4	8	3	3	0	0	2	22	1%	0	0.64
Jumping/diving in	Recreation	18	14	13	16	10	17	16	9	113	5%	-50	3.27
Manually powered boats	Recreation	9	10	14	15	6	5	4	7	70	3%	-22	2.02
Motor vehicle	Travel	7	14	9	16	10	11	8	16	91	4%	+129	2.63
Motorboating	Adventure	11	9	10	9	10	7	9	14	79	3%	+27	2.28
Person on ice	Recreation	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0%	-100	0.03
Unknown	Other	63	23	43	33	14	21	6	1	204	9%	-98	5.90
Personal watercraft	Recreation	0	0	1	1	2	1	0	3	8	0%	+800	0.23
Recreational flying	Travel	1	0	1	1	2	0	2	0	7	0%	-100	0.20
Sailing	Recreation	11	7	10	5	2	3	4	2	44	2%	-82	1.27
Subaqua diver	Adventure	14	15	6	13	16	18	12	3	97	4%	-79	2.80
Surfing	Recreation	2	1	0	0	0	0	3	4	10	0%	+100	0.29
Swimming	Recreation	59	36	29	30	35	34	44	53	320	14%	-10	9.25
Walking/running	Land-based	126	138	82	77	106	93	87	89	798	34%	-29	23.07
Waterside activity	Land-based	18	31	31	14	9	16	6	15	140	6%	-17	4.05
Wind/kitesurfing	Recreation	0	2	3	2	1	1	4	3	16	1%	+300	0.46

References

UK Water Safety Forum. 2009-20. Annual reports and data. Available at: https://www.nationalwatersafety.org.uk/waid/annual-reports-and-data accessed 8th February 2022.

Citation. Jacklin, D. 2022. What is a drowning detection system? Water Incident Research Hub, 6th February.