KEEP WATCH WARNING: Be Prepared and Always Actively Supervise Children Around Water.
Kids can't help themselves around water, you need to. KEEP WATCH.

Drowning deaths in young children are preventable. For more than 25 years, Keep Watch has been advising Australian parents and carers on how to keep their children safe around the water.

Between 2014 and 2024, there were 197 drowning deaths of children aged 0 to 4 years, 65% of which occurred in a swimming pool or bathtub.

Drowning risk for young children peaks in summer, with 37% of all deaths occurring between December and February.

Swimming pools are the leading location for drowning young children. Between 2014 and 2024, 92 children aged 0 – 4 years lost their lives in a swimming pool, with 41% of these children aged just one year.

Accidental falls into water (75%) were the leading activity prior to drowning in this age group followed by bathing (19%). Between 2014 - 2024, 37 children drowned in a bathtub, with 54% aged less than a year old.

“It is vital you keep constant watch and restrict access to water around the home. This is the time of year to check your pool fence and gate are in working order.” says Justin Scarr, Royal Life Saving Australia CEO.

Almost all of these deaths were due to a lack of active adult supervision.

For every toddler drowning death approximately eight children are admitted to hospital as a result of non-fatal drowning.

Royal Life Saving is asking all parents to Supervise, Restrict, Teach and Respond to keep their children safe around water. Because ‘Kids can’t help themselves around water, you need to. Keep Watch.’

When implemented together, these Keep Watch drowning prevention actions help to maximise child safety around water.

The Keep Watch program is proudly supported by the Australian Government.

Drowning deaths in children (2014-2024)
20
Children aged 0 to 4 years drown, on average, each year in Australia
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Over 80%
of children were not being directly supervised by an adult at the time of the drowning event
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47%
of young children aged 0 - 4 years drown in a swimming pool
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75%
of drowning deaths in children aged 0 - 4 are due to an unintentional fall into water
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1-year
There were nearly three times more drowning deaths among children aged 1-year, compared to those under a year.