Swimming

Is swimming safe?

Yes, for people who can swim, and especially in a pool with a lifeguard. On UK figures a swim carries about a quarter of a micromortMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary on average, and most of that risk sits in the sea, rivers and lakes rather than in pools. Swimming is also one of the easiest ways for older people and those with joint problems to stay fit.

The figure is our estimate. The UK's Water Incident Database (WAID) recorded 189 accidental deaths of people swimming in 2019–2023, about 38 a year, and 104 of them happened at the coast. Swim England counts 12.5 million adults in England who swim in a year, 4.2 million of them at least twice a month. Adding up regular and occasional swimmers gives something like 150 million swims a year across the UK, or roughly 0.25 micromorts per swim. A lifeguarded pool swim is far below that average. A swim in open water is closer to 0.5 to 2 micromorts, as our page on open-water swimming explains.

The catch is that drowning is not mostly a swimming problem. Many people who drown never meant to go in the water: toddlers who wander to a pool, walkers who slip into a river, people who fall in after drinking.

Where people drown

In the UK, 202 people died in accidental drownings and other water incidents in 2025, a rate of 0.29 per 100,000. Of these, 85% were male, and 57% died at inland waters such as rivers, lakes and quarries. Recreational activities, including swimming, accounted for 63%. At home, 33 of 71 domestic water deaths in 2019–2023 were in baths, not pools.

In the US, the CDC counts about 4,000 unintentional drowning deaths a year and about 8,000 emergency visits for non-fatal drowning. Worldwide, the WHO estimatesWHO road-death estimateThe World Health Organization's estimate of road traffic deaths per 100,000 people in a country, adjusted for deaths that police statistics miss.More in the glossary about 300,000 drowning deaths a year, 92% of them in low- and middle-income countries, where open water, wells and floods are close to homes and few children learn to swim.

Children and home pools

Young children are the group most at risk. In the US, drowning kills more children aged 1 to 4 than any other cause. The Consumer Product Safety Commission counted an average of 376 children under 15 who drowned in pools and spas each year from 2021 to 2023, nearly 80% of them under 5 and more than 70% at a home. Emergency departments treated about 5,900 non-fatal pool and spa drownings in children each year from 2023 to 2025.

These deaths are usually silent and quick. A toddler who slips into a pool does not splash or shout. That is why barriers matter more than good intentions: a four-sided fence with a self-closing, self-latching gate stops a child reaching the water when an adult is briefly distracted. In the UK, Swim England estimates about 200,000 children a year leave primary school unable to swim the 25 metres the national curriculum expects.

Adults and older swimmers

For adults, the deaths cluster where there is no lifeguard: beaches outside patrolled zones, rivers and lakes, and private pools. Men aged 60 to 69 had the highest accidental drowning rate in the UK in 2025, and drink or drugs were noted in 41 of the 202 accidental deaths. Heart problems while swimming are a factor in some deaths of older swimmers, as they are in running.

Injuries other than drowning are uncommon. Slips on pool decks cause bruises and the odd fracture. The serious one to avoid is diving into shallow or unknown water, which can break the neck.

How to swim safely

1. Learn to swim properly, and make sure children can swim at least 25 metres and float.
2. Choose lifeguarded pools and beaches. At the beach, swim between the red and yellow flags.
3. Watch children constantly near water. Name one adult as the water watcher, with no phone, and hand over clearly when someone else takes a turn.
4. Fence home pools on all four sides with a self-closing, self-latching gate, and empty paddling pools after use.
5. Do not drink alcohol before or while swimming, or when supervising children.
6. Never dive in where you have not checked the depth.
7. If you get into trouble, float. Lie back, keep your face out of the water and wait for your breathing to settle before you swim or call for help.
8. Learn CPR. Quick resuscitation makes the biggest difference to survival after a drowning.

How we scored it

Fatality risk (87) sits in the 0.1–1 micromortMicromortA one-in-a-million chance of death. It lets you compare the risk of very different activities on one scale.More in the glossary band per swim, and pool swims are much lower still. Injury risk (85) is good. Controllability (78) reflects how much lessons, supervision, fencing and sober swimming reduce the risk. Rescue and environment (75) is the weakest factor because many swims happen away from lifeguards. That gives 84 overall, well above open-water swimming (72).

Our confidence is medium. Death counts are solid, but no country counts swims, so the per-swim figure rests on survey estimates of how often people swim.