Skydiving

Is skydiving safe?

Safer than its reputation, but not trivial. The United States Parachute Association (USPA) counted 149 deaths in about 34 million US jumps from 2016 to 2025. That works out at about 4 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per jump, or roughly 1 in 230,000. Older and international data are worse: a 2023 review of more than 62 million jumps found about 11 deaths per million.

The pattern behind those deaths has changed. Parachutes rarely fail in a way that kills. People die and get hurt flying a working parachute badly, usually near the ground.

Ten years of US data

Year	Deaths	Jumps	Deaths per 100,000 jumps
2016	21	3.2 million	0.66
2017	24	3.2 million	0.75
2018	13	3.3 million	0.39
2019	15	3.3 million	0.45
2020	11	2.8 million	0.39
2021	10	3.57 million	0.28
2022	20	3.9 million	0.51
2023	10	3.65 million	0.27
2024	9	3.88 million	0.23
2025	16	3.47 million	0.46

Source: USPA. With only 10 to 25 deaths a year, the rate swings by chance alone. 2025 was nearly twice as bad as 2024, but both are inside the normal range of the decade. Read the ten-year average, not one year.

Why do skydivers die?

USPA's own summary is blunt: "the vast majority are a result of simple human error". Many accidents happen when a jumper "makes an error in judgement while landing a perfectly functioning parachute".

That points to a few recurring situations:

• High-performance landings. Experienced jumpers on small, fast canopies dive them in steep turns to build speed before landing. A turn started too low hits the ground at high speed.
• Collisions. Several canopies sharing a landing pattern, or jumpers in freefall formations, can hit each other.
• Emergency procedures done late. A malfunctioning main parachute has to be cut away and the reserve deployed at a safe height. Hesitation costs altitude.
• Landing out. Missing the drop zone means trees, power lines, water and buildings.

Gear has improved the other side of the ledger. USPA notes that all student rigs carry an automatic activation device (AAD), which fires the reserve if the jumper is still falling fast at low altitude, and at least 90% of experienced skydivers fit one too. Reserve use is not rare: USPA estimates about one per 726 jumps in 2025. A reserve opening is a planned outcome, not a near miss.

What about injuries?

Injuries are far more common than deaths, and most come on landing. The 2023 systematic review by Barthel and colleagues found injuries on about 0.044% of jumps, with hospital admission in under 2 per 10,000. A Swedish study found 48 non-fatal injury events per 100,000 jumps, with students hurt more often than licensed jumpers. The typical damage is to ankles, legs and the lower back. In USPA's 2025 survey, 5.6% of members said they had an injury that needed medical treatment that year.

Who takes the most risk?

The risk per jump is not spread evenly. A first-time tandem student is attached to an instructor with thousands of jumps, a reserve and an AAD, and does not have to judge the landing. A newly licensed jumper is still learning to fly a canopy. The jumpers who choose small, fast canopies and aggressive landing approaches take on a risk that the average figure underplays.

Frequency also matters. A single tandem jump adds about as much risk as a long road trip. A sport jumper doing 200 jumps a year collects about 800 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary a year from jumping, many times the background risk of ordinary accidents.

How to skydive more safely

1. Choose a USPA Group Member drop zone (or the national equivalent, such as British Skydiving), which agrees to follow basic safety requirements.
2. Check that your rig has an AAD and that the reserve has been repacked within its inspection period.
3. Downsize slowly. Move to smaller canopies only with a canopy course and enough jumps; this is the biggest controllable risk for licensed jumpers.
4. Decide your emergency altitudes on the ground and practise them. Pick a hard deck for cutaway and stick to it.
5. Fly a predictable landing pattern and keep big turns well above the ground.
6. Stay current. After a few months off, jump with a coach or refresh emergency drills before going solo.

How we scored it

Fatality risk (70) reflects about 4 micromortsMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary per jump on recent US data, with older figures up to 11. Injury risk (70) is moderate, and controllability (70) is good because most deaths trace back to choices. Compare BASE jumping, which kills at roughly a hundred times the rate per jump, and paragliding.