Epidemiology

The World Health Organization estimates that around 236,000 people die from drowning globally every year.[3] However, international data may drastically underestimate drowning figures, even for high-income countries.[4][5]​ This is due, in part, to categorisation issues, in which intentional drowning deaths and drowning deaths subsequent to natural disasters are not coded in drowning mortality data. In addition, there are large variations between countries in the quality and means of data collection. The latter primarily concerns low- and middle-income countries, which are thought to account for over 90% of global drowning deaths.[3]

In the US, there are an average of 4012 unintentional drowning deaths per year plus an additional 533 due to boating incidents.[6] Of the 2584 unintentional injury deaths in 1- to 4-year-old children in 2017, more were attributable to drowning (467) than to motor vehicle traffic accidents (452).[6] There are approximately 6500 drowning deaths reported annually in European Union member countries.[7]

In Australia, an average of 288 drowning deaths were reported each year between 2008/09 and 2018/19.[8]

In Brazil, 5700 drowning deaths are recorded annually, more than 70% of which occur in open freshwater (rivers, lakes, and ponds).[9] Drowning remains the second leading cause of death among 1- to 9-year-old children in Brazil, and third among 10- to 19-year-olds.

Drowning data from the African continent are limited, and are based upon modelling rather than reporting.[10] Similarly, data collection in south and southeast Asia is poor.[11]

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