Drowning Overview

Drowning is a leading cause of accidental death in America. By examining drowning data from a variety of sources, the scope and magnitude of drowning and water-related injuries in the United States can be obtained.

• According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Water-Related Injuries: Fact Sheet from 2005–2014, there were 3,536 unintentional drowning deaths in the United States.
• If you combine that number with the 332 people who also died in boating-related incidents, the number of drowning deaths climbs to 3,868.
• This number translates to almost 10 Americans everyday across the United States losing their lives to water.
• This number only reflects fatalities, not the total number of water-related incidents and injuries.
• Males accounted for 80% of all drowning deaths.
• According to the World Health Organization, an estimated 372,000 drowning deaths occurred in 2014, making drowning the third leading cause of unintentional injury death worldwide.