Royal Life Saving Australia has recently released the 2021 National Drowning Report, highlighting the incidence of fatal and non-fatal drowning across Australia between 1st July 2020 and 30th June 2021. The report found that 294 people lost their lives to drowning and estimates that an additional 674 people experienced a non-fatal drowning incident.
To grow our understanding of who is impacted by drowning incidents across the country the report provides analysis of drowning incidents by age groups, time, activity, residency, type of body of water, risk factors and location.
When narrowing in on Western Australia, the report highlights that 39 people drowned in Western Australian waterways over the 12 month period. This incidence is a 22% increase on the number of drownings in 2019/20 and a 15% increase on the 10 year average. Key priority populations identified within the Western Australia data, some of which are outlined in the figures below, included; males (90% of those who drowned in Western Australia), individuals aged 65-74 (26%), individuals in and around an ocean/harbour (26%) and individuals swimming and recreating (23%).
For more information about the incidence of drowning in Australia, access Royal Life Savings National Drowning Report 2021 here.