Dáil Éireann Debate, Wednesday - 7 February 2024
2. Deputy Richard Boyd Barrett asked the Taoiseach to provide details on Ireland’s annual drowning rate; the way this compares with other countries in Europe; and to provide a breakdown of drowning rates by county. [5178/24]
View answerThe Central Statistics Office (CSO) produces statistics relating to deaths which are compiled from administrative data supplied to the organisation from the General Register Office (GRO). The narrative contained within these death certificates are analysed and utilising methodological guidelines as prescribed by the World Health Organisation (WHO), each death is assigned an underlying cause of death which is coded to the International Classification of Diseases 10th Revision (ICD-10).
The CSO publishes detailed statistics relating to the underlying cause of death (UCOD) and disseminates them through their website. The most recent annual report data is available for 2021 and is based off year of death. Table 1 below provides a breakdown of the various underlying cause of death codes which reference drowning.
|
Year |
Underlying Cause of Death |
Count |
|
2021 |
V90 Accident to watercraft causing drowning and submersion |
1 |
|
2021 |
V92 Water-transport-related drowning and submersion without accident to watercraft |
|
|
2021 |
V93 Accident on board watercraft without accident to watercraft, not causing drowning and submersion |
|
|
2021 |
W16 Diving or jumping into water causing injury other than drowning or submersion |
|
|
2021 |
W65 Drowning and submersion while in bath-tub |
|
|
2021 |
W66 Drowning and submersion following fall into bath-tub |
|
|
2021 |
W67 Drowning and submersion while in swimming-pool |
|
|
2021 |
W68 Drowning and submersion following fall into swimming-pool |
|
|
2021 |
W69 Drowning and submersion while in natural water |
5 |
|
2021 |
W70 Drowning and submersion following fall into natural water |
1 |
|
2021 |
W73 Other specified drowning and submersion |
1 |
|
2021 |
W74 Unspecified drowning and submersion |
50 |
|
2021 |
X71 Intentional self-harm by drowning and submersion |
43 |
|
2021 |
X92 Assault by drowning and submersion |
|
|
2021 |
Y21 Drowning and submersion, undetermined intent |
1 |
|
2021 |
Total |
102 |
While the CSO publishes certain underlying cause of death figures at different geographical levels, given the low number of deaths for certain manner of deaths, the figures in the Table 1 above been grouped together for confidentiality reasons so to provide a county level breakdown as shown in Table 2.
|
County |
Count |
|
Ireland |
102 |
|
Dublin |
18 |
|
Cork |
18 |
|
Galway |
8 |
|
Wexford |
7 |
|
Waterford |
7 |
|
Donegal |
6 |
|
Kildare |
4 |
|
Kerry |
4 |
|
Cavan |
4 |
|
Louth |
3 |
|
Westmeath |
3 |
|
Clare |
3 |
|
Limerick |
3 |
|
Roscommon |
3 |
|
Wicklow |
2 |
|
Leitrim |
2 |
|
Monaghan |
2 |
|
Carlow |
1 |
|
Kilkenny |
1 |
|
Longford |
1 |
|
Mayo |
1 |
|
Sligo |
1 |
Finally, Eurostat is the European statistical office who collate and centrally disseminate data at a European level. Data for 2021 is available through their website and statistics are available for deaths relating to Accidental Drowning and submersion (ICD-10 groupings W65 to W74), of which there were a total of 57 in Ireland in 2021. Table 3 below provides the actual number of deaths for these ICD-10 groupings and is amalgamated with population data to provide crude deaths of accidental drowning and submersion per 100,000 of population where data is available.
|
Region |
Count of Deaths |
Crude Rate per 100,000 |
|
European Union - 27 countries (from 2020) |
: |
|
|
European Union - 28 countries (2013-2020) |
: |
|
|
Belgium |
: |
|
|
Bulgaria |
109 |
1.6 |
|
Czechia |
138 |
1.3 |
|
Denmark |
37 |
0.6 |
|
Germany |
400 |
0.5 |
|
Estonia |
49 |
3.7 |
|
Ireland |
57 |
1.1 |
|
Greece |
355 |
3.3 |
|
Spain |
510 |
1.1 |
|
France |
673 |
1.0 |
|
Metropolitan France |
: |
|
|
Croatia |
99 |
2.5 |
|
Italy |
285 |
0.5 |
|
Cyprus |
18 |
2.0 |
|
Latvia |
117 |
6.2 |
|
Lithuania |
145 |
5.2 |
|
Luxembourg |
1 |
0.2 |
|
Hungary |
110 |
1.1 |
|
Malta |
6 |
1.2 |
|
Netherlands |
99 |
0.6 |
|
Austria |
40 |
0.4 |
|
Poland |
454 |
1.2 |
|
Portugal |
82 |
0.8 |
|
Romania |
: |
|
|
Slovenia |
29 |
1.4 |
|
Slovakia |
108 |
2.0 |
|
Finland |
115 |
2.1 |
|
Sweden |
97 |
0.9 |
|
Iceland |
: |
|
|
Liechtenstein |
0 |
0.0 |
|
Norway |
66 |
1.2 |
|
Switzerland |
45 |
0.5 |
|
United Kingdom |
: |
|
|
Serbia |
63 |
0.9 |
|
Türkiye |
: |
|
|
Note - : indicates data not available |
