Each year, Royal Life Saving produces Drowning Reports which review fatal and non-fatal drowning incidents and provide detailed information on who, where, when and how people drowned in National and Western Australian waterways over the last financial year. The report provides a better understanding of the burden of drowning in Western Australia and identifies key water safety and drowning prevention priority areas for action.
Data is obtained from a number of sources including media stories, police reports and data from the WA Coroner’s office and cases are crosschecked with National data to ensure consistency. The most recent WA and National reports can be seen below.
National Drowning Report
323 people died as a result of drowning in Australia between 1 July 2023 and 30 June 2024. 41 people drowned in Western Australia, a 17% increase on the 10-year average. You can download the full report below.
WA Drowning Report
The 2023 WA Drowning Report highlights key drowning trends in Western Australia from July 2022 to June 2023 and identifies key priority areas for action. Translating this research into policy and practice supports Royal Life Saving WA's efforts to gain a deeper understanding of drowning and its impacts, develop evidence-based and innovative solutions for drowning prevention, and empower the community to adopt safer aquatic behaviours.
There were 223 drowning incidents recorded in 2022/23 at a rate of 7.9 per 100,000 population. Of these 29 were fatal, 105 were admitted to hospital and 89 presented at an emergency department in the Perth metropolitan area. Overall drowning rates decreased by 17.0% from 2021/22, while trends show a 2.1% increase in drowning rates over the past ten years.
Previous Annual WA Drowning Reports
10 year analysis drowning reports
Summaries of drowning data across population groups, locations and activities are also available. More recent summaries can be found in the WA Drowning Reports above.