Statistics: UK drowning fatalities by activity
Feb 08, 2022The 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.
