2020 Provisional Drowning Report

In 2020 there were 74 recreational (intending to be in the water) and non-recreational (no intention of being in the water) preventable drowning fatalities. This provisional annual drowning report provides statistics and insights based on the 74 incidents. Note: In 2019, there were 82 preventable drowning fatalities.

This report is subject to change once all incidents have been verified by coronial findings.

2020 Total Fatalities: 74

2015-2019 Average Fatalities: 81

Contents

Region

Activity

Environment

Age

Ethnicity

Gender

Month by Month

Disclaimer

Drowning data is sourced from Water Safety New Zealand’s DrownBase™ and the figures provided are provisional.

Preventable fatalities include recreational and non-recreational drowning deaths. They do not include those fatalities classified as ‘other’ (arising as a result of road or air vehicle accidents, homicide, suicide or of unknown origin) as these are not considered applicable to the prevention and rescue efforts of the water safety sector.