Water-based activities such as swimming and bathing are usually safe, when risks are managed. However, environmental conditions or accidents can lead to submersion injuries or death by drowning. Some submersion injuries can have long-term effects, such as when the brain goes without oxygen for too long.

Drowning and submersions are the fifteenth ranked cause of injury hospitalisations in 2024–25 and the seventh ranked cause of injury deaths 2023–24.

Drowning and submersion injuries caused:

  • Hospitalisations 2024–25

    558 hospitalisations

    0.1% of all injury hospitalisations

    2.0 per 100,000 population

  • Deaths 2023–24

    300 deaths

    1.9% of all injury deaths

    1.1 per 100,000 population

Injuries were most likely among:

  • Males (2.9 hospitalisations and 1.8 deaths per 100,000)

  • People aged 0–4 (13.0 hospitalisations per 100,000) and 65 and over (2.0 deaths per 100,000)

  • Accidents involving swimming pools* (0.6 hospitalisations per 100,000) and natural water (0.6 deaths per 100,000)

*for injuries where location was recorded

Definitions

This article describes unintentional drowning and submersion injuries resulting in hospitalisation or death. Intentional injuries are included under Self-harm injuries and suicide or Assault and homicide.

External causes of injury are not currently able to be ascertained reliably from emergency department data. For more detail, please see the Injury in Australia technical notes.

For drowning and submersion injuries:

  • Hospitalisations 2024–25

    • 388 cases (69%) were males
    • the rate for males (2.9 per 100,000) was 2.4 times the rate for females (1.2 per 100,000)
    • males aged 0–4 had the highest rate (15.2 per 100,000)

  • Deaths 2023–24

    • 238 deaths (79%) were males
    • the rate for males (1.8 per 100,000) was 3.6 times the rate for females (0.5 per 100,000)
    • males aged 65+ had the highest rate (3.5 deaths per 100,000)

Locations where drowning and submersions occur

  • 172 140 39 Pool Natural water Tub

    Hospitalisations 2024–25

    Most drowning and submersion injury hospitalisations occuring in specified locations* were in swimming pools, natural water bodies and bathtubs

    *excluding 207 cases with unspecified location

  • 153 45 21 Natural water Pool Tub

    Deaths 2023–24

    Most drowning and submersion injury deaths in specified locations* were in natural water bodies, swimming pools and bathtubs

    *excluding 47 deaths with unknown location

For more detail, see supplementary data tables H22 and D7.

Over the past decade, the rate of drowning and submersion injury:

  • Hospitalisations 2015–16 to 2024–25

    Hospitalisations decreased with the rate ranging from 2.7 in 2015–16 to 2.0 per 100,000 in 2024–25.

    In 2024–25, the rate was 4.8% lower than the previous 5-year average of 2.1 per 100,000 population.

  • Deaths 2014–15 to 2023–24

    Death rates have remained stable, fluctuating around 1.0 per 100,000 population each year (around 270 deaths per year)

  • Drowning and submersion hospitalisations and deaths generally increase in summer: 

    • around half (48%) of hospitalisations occurred in summer during 2024–25
    • over 2 in 5 (41%) deaths occurred in summer duing 2023–24

Common types of drowning and submersion by location, age and sex, 2024–25

  • Swimming pools

    • 11.8% of hospitalisations were males aged 0–4 (8.5 per 100,000)
    • 6.8% of hospitalisations were females aged 0–4 (5.2 per 100,000)
    • 5.0% of hospitalisations were males aged 5–14 (1.7 per 100,000)

  • Natural water

    • 3.9% of hospitalisations were males aged 15–24 (1.2 per 100,000)
    • 3.4% of hospitalisations were males aged 65 and over (0.9 per 100,000)
    • 3.8% hospitalisations were males aged 45–64 (0.7 per 100,000)

  • Bathtub

    • 4.1% of hospitalisations were males aged 0–4 (3.0 per 100,000)
    • 2.5% of hospitalisations were females aged 0–4 (1.9 per 100,000)

Activity while injured and place of occurrence

These figures should be used with caution as 9.1% of place of occurrence records and 34.4% of activity records were missing for drowning and submersion-related hospitalisations. 

  • Place

    Beaches and bodies of water was the most commonly specified place of occurrence (44.3%)

  • Activity

    Sport was the most commonly specified activity undertaken when injured (36.2%)


Severity

In 2024–25, drowning and submersion injuries were severe, when compared to all injuries.

The average length of stay in hospital for drowning and submersion injuries was lower than the average for all hospitalised injuries, while the percentages of cases that included time in an ICU and cases that involved continuous ventilatory support were both higher. The rate of in-hospital deaths was also higher (Table 1).

Table 1: Severity of injury hospitalisations due to drowning and submersion, 2024–25
Severity measureDrowning and submersion injuriesAll injuries
Average number of days in hospital2.53.4
Percentage of cases with time in an ICU (%)10.22.0
Percentage of cases with time on ventilator (%)7.21.1
In-hospital deaths (per 1,000 cases)16.15.7

Notes

  1. Average number of days in hospital (length of stay) includes admissions that are transfers from one hospital to another or transfers from one admitted care type to another within the same hospital, except where care involves rehabilitation procedures.
  2. All injuries includes drowning injuries in the total calculations.

Source: AIHW National Hospital Morbidity Database.

For more detail, see supplementary data table H14.

First Nations people

Among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (First Nations people):

  • there were 52 hospitalisations due to drowning and submersion in 2024–25 (or 3.7 per 100,000)
  • hospitalisation rates were highest among people aged 0–4
  • there were 9 deaths due to drowning and submersion injuries in 2023–24

For more detail, see supplementary data table H5.

State and territory

  • 3.7 2.3 1.9 Qld NSW WA

    Hospitalisations 2023–24

    The highest rates of drowning and submersion injury hospitalisations in 2023–24 were in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia

  • 1.3 1.0 0.9 Qld NSW WA

    Deaths 2022–23

    The highest rates of death by drowning and submersion in 2022–23 were in Queensland, New South Wales and Western Australia

Note: Rates are age-standardised and presented per 100,000 population

Remoteness

In 2023–24, for hospitalisations due to drowning and submersion:

  • People living in Outer regional areas had the highest rate of hospitalisations (age-standardised rate of 3.1 per 100,000)

  • People living in Inner regional areas had the lowest rate of hospitalisation (age-standardised rate of 2.1 per 100,000)

     

Note: Rates for Remote and Very remote areas are not reported due to small numbers.

Socioeconomic areas

  • 2.7 2.1 Most disad. Least disad.

    Hospitalisations 2023–24

    Drowning hospitalisations were 1.3 times as likely to occur in the most disadvantaged areas when compared to the least disadvantaged areas

     

  • 1.2 0.9 Most disad. Least disad.

    Deaths 2022–23

    Drowning and submersion deaths were 1.3 times as likely to occur in the most disadvantaged areas when compared to the least disadvantaged areas

Note: Rates are age-standardised and presented per 100,000 population.

Data details

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