Drowning deaths hit record high in Australia – report blames ‘increasing diversity’

Australia has recorded its highest ever number of annual drowning deaths, with the foreign-born overrepresented and a government report highlighting the “increasing diversity” of the population.

Data from the latest National Drowning Report showed that in the 2024-25 financial year there were 357 fatal drownings, the most since records began in 1996, 27% above the 10-year average of 281 drownings per year, and a 17% rise when adjusted for population growth.

The report noted that 81% of fatalities were male, 33% were among those aged 65 or older, and 32% were foreign-born (based on the 53% of cases where the country of birth was known), and stated there were “higher drowning rates among children of migrants”.

The largest number of foreign-born fatalities occurred among those born in China and the UK, followed by India, Malaysia, Nepal and Papua New Guinea.

The report further noted that the latest total stands in contrast to recent trends, with Australia’s past success in reducing drowning rates now appearing “to be reversing”, with fatalities rising after decades of decline.

The report ascribed the increasing number of fatalities to Australia’s ageing population, a rapid decline in swimming skills, and an “evolving exposure” to water.

This involves developments like the fact that Australians are “exploring new and less crowded places to swim”, and that shifting weather, work and leisure patterns are encouraging people to ”spend more time around water, earlier or later in the day, and further into autumn”.

The report also noted the relation between Australia’s changing demography and the country’s increasing number of drownings, stating that the “increasingly diverse population brings more complex community vulnerabilities”.

This is further confirmed in other parts of the report, with the study’s 10-year summary revealing that between 2014/15 and 2023/24 over a third (34%) of all drowning deaths involved the foreign born, while 36% of those involved “new arrivals” who had been in Australia for five years or less.

The top five sources for foreign-born fatalities over the 10-year period were China, the UK, India, Vietnam and New Zealand.

This overrepresentation has prompted authorities to act to reduce this gap, with the report stating: “Multicultural communities are a priority population in the Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030.”

The report recommends that in order to reduce drownings by 2030, “swimming and water safety programs need to effectively reach migrant communities”, and that there is a “need for dedicated swimming and water safety programs for migrant adults”.

These latest results echo earlier findings on demographic diversity and drowning rates as shown in a 2022 study by the University of New South Wales on South Asian migrants and beach awareness in Australia.

The first of its kind online survey interviewed 249 respondents from India, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Afghanistan, Bhutan and Pakistan about water safety in Australia. Among the most important findings from the study were that:

• Almost half (47%) of all beach drowning deaths in Australia from 2004 to 2021 were from people born overseas.
• People born in India accounted for the highest proportion of migrants who drowned in Australia between 2009 and 2019.
• Almost half the respondents indicated they could not swim, but many still intended to enter the water when visiting beaches.
• Many respondents often entered the water fully clothed.
• More than half of all respondents entered the water at unpatrolled beaches, mostly as a family or group.

The study also found that 27% of respondents “did not know of, or did not have a good understanding of” the notion of swimming between the red and yellow flags on Australian beaches, and “of those who were familiar with the red and yellow flags, more than half…indicated they did not always swim between them, while 23% said they rarely or never did.”

The latest National Drowning Report also noted that aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are overrepresented in fatal drownings, with the data showing that indigenous people are 1.7 times more likely to drown than the non-indigenous, with Australia’s aboriginal population comprising 3.7% of the national total but accounting for 5% of all drownings deaths.

Header image: Family gather after an eight-year-old boy drowned in a display home swimming pool in Kialla, Victoria, last month (9News).

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