Drowning

Key facts

• There are approximately 300,000 deaths from drowning worldwide each year.
• Drowning disproportionately affects children and young people. Children under the age of 5 account for almost a quarter of all drowning deaths.
• Drowning is the fourth leading cause of death for children ages 1 to 4 and the third leading cause of death for children ages 5 to 14.
• Ninety-two percent of drowning deaths occur in low- and middle-income countries.
• Resolutions approved by the United Nations General Assembly and the World Health Assembly provide a roadmap for global drowning prevention efforts.

Preview

Drowning is the process of respiratory impairment resulting from submersion/immersion in liquid. Outcomes are categorized into death, morbidity and no morbidity.

The global burden of drowning, however, affects all economies and regions:

• drowning mortality rates are more than three times higher in low- and middle-income countries than in high-income countries;
• more than half of the world’s drownings occur in the WHO Western Pacific Region and the WHO South-East Asia Region;

Since 2000, the global rate of drowning deaths has decreased by 38%, from 6.1 to 3.8 per 100,000 population. Despite this progress, drowning deaths remain a preventable public health crisis, and the declines observed over the past two decades are far from enough to achieve the many Sustainable Development Goals to which drowning prevention contributes.

Risk factors

Age

Young children are at particularly high risk of drowning due to an underdeveloped ability to assess risk and a lack of swimming and water safety skills. The risk of drowning increases when children interact with water without active adult supervision.

Children and young adults ages 0 to 29 account for more than half (57%) of all drowning deaths. The highest population drowning rates are among children aged 0 to 4 years. Regionally, drowning rates among children aged 0 to 4 years are highest in the WHO Eastern Mediterranean Region, with 16.8 deaths per 100,000 population. In the WHO Western Pacific Region, children aged 5 to 14 years die more frequently from drowning than from any other cause.

Sex

The drowning mortality rate for men is more than twice that of women. Men are also more likely to be hospitalized than women for non-fatal drowning. Studies suggest that higher drowning rates among men are due to increased exposure to water and riskier behaviors such as swimming alone, drinking alcohol before swimming alone, and boating.

Poverty and inequality

Drowning disproportionately affects poor and marginalized people. Whether it is the use of ponds, rivers or lakes for bathing and washing clothes, or open wells to collect water, the daily pattern of exposure in low-income countries or intermediate results in a higher risk of drowning.

Professional exhibition

People in occupations such as commercial or subsistence fishing face a much higher risk of drowning. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations estimates that more than 32,000 fishermen die working each year. Climate change has worsened the dangerous conditions in which most fishermen work, as extreme weather and natural disasters become more frequent and destructive.

Climate-related risks

Climate change is causing more extreme weather events, like floods and heatwaves. Drowning accounts for 75% of deaths during catastrophic floods. Drowning risks from flooding are particularly high in low- and middle-income countries, where early warning systems and flood mitigation infrastructure are underdeveloped.

Heat waves increase the risk of drowning. As temperatures rise, more people seek out water for relief from the heat and generally spend longer periods of time in and on the water.

Water transport

Traveling on water, especially in dangerous weather conditions or without proper safety equipment, can increase the risk of drowning. In many low- and middle-income countries, water transport is significantly less regulated than in high-income countries. Daily travel often takes place on overcrowded and unsafe vessels, operated by personnel who have not been trained to recognize dangerous conditions or navigate the open seas.

Migration and search for refuge

Increasing numbers of people are displaced or migrate due to conflict, political and/or economic instability and climate change. Many people resort to irregular migration routes that are extremely dangerous, including across large bodies of water in unsafe conditions, often using overcrowded and unsafe vessels lacking safety equipment or operated by staff. untrained.