Caution:
This site includes information about child deaths, which some readers may find distressing. If you need support, free and confidential help is available.
We wish to convey our sincere condolences to the families and friends of the infants, children and young people in NSW who have died. It is our foremost responsibility to learn from these deaths and to use that knowledge to make a difference.
Between 2022 and 2023, 14 children and young people in New South Wales died from drowning — 8 in 2022 and 6 in 2023.
These deaths were unintentional, and mostly occurred in pools and inland waterways. The findings also include incidents involving watercraft where water safety was a factor.
Findings collected
2009-2023
Page last updated
5 November 2025
In 2022 and 2023, 14 children and young people aged 0–17 drowned in NSW — an average rate of 0.39 deaths per 100,000 children.
Most were very young: 8 were under the age of 5. Supervision was a factor in 10 deaths, with several children gaining access to water without supervision.
Limited swimming ability also contributed to many cases, with 11 children unable to swim or only able to do so minimally.
In 2022 and 2023, 3 key factors contributed to drowning deaths:
Loading chart...
Over the 15 years to 2023, the rate of drowning deaths among children in NSW fell by 58%, reaching its lowest point in 2023.
Despite this progress, drowning rates remained higher for:
Location and age were closely linked. For children under 5, the most common location for drowning was private swimming pools. For children and young people aged 5–17 years, deaths most often occurred in coastal or natural inland waterways such as rivers, creeks and lakes.
Drowning rates for males and females decreased, but remained around 2.4 times higher for males.
The rate for children under 5 decreased but continued to be 3.6 times higher than for children aged 5–17 years. Among older children, rates have not changed significantly over time.
The rate for non-Indigenous children decreased, while the rate for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children showed little overall change across the 15 years.
Children living in regional and remote areas were 2.5 times more likely to drown than those in major cities, although the gap has narrowed over time.
Children from the most disadvantaged areas experienced drowning rates about twice as high as those from the least disadvantaged areas.
The average proportion over the 15 years for children who drowned and had a child protection history was 37%.
We continue to support actions that reduce the risk of drowning for children and young people in NSW. Several recommendations have been made to strengthen water safety and prevention measures.
The Department of Customer Service, in its planned upgrade of the Swimming Pool Register, ensure that its collection and reporting capability allows for public amalgamated reporting of compliance data relating to key aspects of swimming pool regulation, including the reasons pool barriers fail inspections, and whether non-compliances were rectified by owners within reasonable timeframes.
This recommendation was closed without implementation.
The Office of Local Government should:
This recommendation was closed without implementation.
In the context of proposals contained in the Independent Review of Swimming Pool Barrier Requirements for Backyard Swimming Pools in NSW (discussion paper), the NSW Government should amend the Swimming Pools Act 1992 to:
This recommendation was closed without implementation.
Led by the Australian Water Safety Council, the Australian Water Safety Strategy 2030 sets national priorities for preventing drowning and promoting the safe use of waterways and swimming pools.
It identifies children aged 0–4 years and young males aged 15–29 years as priority groups, reflecting consistently higher drowning rates.
Between 2009 and 2023, 158 children aged 0–17 years drowned in NSW. Of these, 59% (93) were under 5, and males accounted for 72% of all drowning deaths and 95% of those aged 15–17.
We support the inclusion of young children and adolescent males as national priority groups under the strategy.
We also support the Victorian State Coroner’s 2024 recommendation to make lifejackets mandatory for all people on, or operating a boat or other vessel. In July 2025, we wrote to Transport for NSW (TfNSW) in support of this recommendation and provided data on child drowning deaths where lifejackets were not worn.
We continue to monitor the development and outcome of the NSW Government’s Maritime Safety Plan 2026, which is considering this recommendation.
A range of initiatives aim to reduce the risk of drowning and promote safer behaviour around water. These programs focus on prevention, education and awareness for children, families and communities.
Key initiatives include:
A long-running public awareness program promoting the importance of active supervision, restricting access to water, and learning resuscitation.
A community education campaign encouraging young adults, particularly males, to look out for each other and avoid alcohol-related risks around water.