Royal Life Saving Summer Drowning Toll Report 2025-2026

Royal Life Saving Summer Drowning Report

2025/26

An investigation into drowning across Australia between 1 December 2025 and 28 February 2026

Royal Life Saving Society - Australia (RLSSA) is focused on reducing drowning and promoting healthy, active and skilled communities through innovative, reliable, evidence based advocacy; strong and effective partnerships; quality programs, products and services; underpinned by a cohesive and sustainable national organisation.

Royal Life Saving is a public benevolent institution (PBI) dedicated to reducing drowning and turning everyday people into everyday community lifesavers. We achieve this through: advocacy, education, training, health promotion, aquatic risk management, community development, research, sport, leadership and participation and international networks.

© 2026 Royal Life Saving Society – Australia

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Suggested Citation

Miller L, Haller M, Koon W, Pidgeon S (2026) Summer drowning report 2025/26: An investigation into drowning deaths in Australia between 1 December 2025 and 28 February 2026, Royal Life Saving Australia. Sydney.

Acknowledgements

Royal Life Saving Australia acknowledges and thanks the research teams at Royal Life Saving - Western Australia, Surf Life Saving Australia, Life Saving Victoria, and Surf Life Saving - New South Wales for their collaboration on tracking drowning incidents over the 2025/26 summer period.

Acknowledgement of Country

Royal Life Saving Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of our national office in Ultimo, Sydney are the Gadigal people of the Eora nation. We pay our respects to Australia’s First Nations cultural and spiritual connections to water, and acknowledge the land where we work, live, and play always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Royal Life Saving (RLS) has tracked and reported drowning deaths over summer since the 2018/19 summer season.

Motivated to provide a clear summary of the drowning situation over summer, in December of 2018, RLS started tracking and reporting drowning deaths captured in media sources. In part as a response to various outlets collating their own inconsistent records of people drowning over summer, the core purpose of the RLS Summer Drowning Toll is to inform the public and media of drowning deaths in real time using a systematic and consistent approach.

The Summer Drowning Toll is publicly accessible on the Royal Life Saving website and updated daily from the 1st of December to the 28th February. The numbers provided represent a record of all drowning deaths reported in the media during the summer months. This information is also informed by the Victorian Coroners Prevention Unit through Life Saving Victoria, and Surf Life Saving Australia incident reports.

Importantly, the deaths reported in the Summer Drowning Toll are not yet under investigation from the coroner. This information should therefore be considered interim and will be different to the confirmed drowning deaths published in the National Drowning Report released later in the year.

Ultimately, the Summer Drowning Toll is a helpful tool for timely tracking of drowning deaths, but RLS cautions against relying only on data from one summer to make important decisions regarding drowning prevention policy, funding, or programmes. While interim summer numbers will shift from year to year, drowning prevention strategy and action should be guided by long-term trends and patterns.

Aims

Record and report summer drowning deaths that were reported in the media between 1 December 2025 and 28 February 2026

Compare summer trends of drowning deaths reported in the media from the previous five years (2020/21 up to 2024/25)

Summer Drowning Toll Dashboard

This summer RLS was pleased to deploy the Summer Drowning Toll on an interactive data dashboard. The new system allowed users to compare this summer’s numbers to last summer and the previous 5-year average, as well as select variables to evaluate on the national level or filtered by state. The dashboard improved the ability for media and drowning prevention organisations to quickly access information in a visual format.

2025/26 Summer Drowning Toll Dashboard

Scan the QR code to visit the Summer Drowning Toll section of the RLS website and view the Dashboard.

Average number of cases per day

Summer Drowning Toll key details 2025/26

0.9 Were aged 65 years and over 30%

91%

Males accounted for drowning

Number of 2025/26 summer drowning deaths reported in the media compared to last summer and the five-year average

Drowning Deaths This is a 22% decrease on 2024/25

Drowning Deaths 81

0-4 YEARS (2%)

5-9 YEARS (0%)

10-14 YEARS (4%)

15-19 YEARS (5%)

20-24 YEARS (10%)

25-34 YEARS (11%)

35-44 YEARS (11%) 44-54 YEARS (12%) 54-64 YEARS (12%)

YEARS (19%)

YEARS (11%)

(2%)

YEARS (2%)

YEARS (6%)

YEARS (9%)

YEARS (7%)

YEARS (12%)

YEARS (13%)

YEARS (11%)

YEARS (13%)

Between 25 December 2025 and 1 January 2026

Drowning during the Holiday period represented 15% of total drowning over the summer. The highest number of drowning deaths occurred on the 31st of December (n=4) and on the 1st of January (n=4). Males represented 83% of drowning deaths during the holiday period.

The highest age group that drowned during the summer Christmas period was the 65–74-year (n=3) age group representing 25% of drowning deaths. Males accounted for most of these incidents, highlighting the ongoing trend of higher drowning risk among men, potentially due to risk taking behaviours.

Most drowning deaths occurred in New South Wales (NSW) (n=6) and Queensland (QLD) (n=3). Top activities prior to drowning was boating (n=3), followed by an attempted rescue (n=2) and swimming (n=2). Beaches (n=4) and ocean/harbours (n=4) were the highest location for drowning during the Christmas period (n=8), followed by rivers/creeks (n=3).

Number of drowning deaths each day of the 2025/26 holiday period

12/25/202512/26/202512/27/202512/28/202512/29/202512/30/202512/31/2025

Number of drowning by age group in the 2025/26 holiday period

2025/26 1 December 2025 to 28 February 2026

2024/25 1 December 2024 to 28 February 2025

METHODS LIMITATIONS

Collation of summer drowning cases

The data collated for this report are derived primarily from media reports of drowning deaths that occurred between 1 December 2025 and 28 February 2026.

As such, these numbers should be considered interim, pending the outcome of ongoing coronial investigations.

Drowning data for Victoria are drawn from a combination of media reports and data from the Coroners Prevention Unit. Historical drowning numbers used for this report have been derived from previous years Summer Drowning Tolls for comparative purposes, which are also from media monitoring, therefore numbers will not the same as that reported in National Drowning Reports.

Consistent with all Royal Life Saving drowning reports, where deaths were known to be a result of suicide or homicide, deaths from natural causes, shark and crocodile attack were excluded. The data included in this report are accurate to the best of the authors knowledge and as per the information available at the time. At the time of completing this report, 90 per cent of cases were under coronial investigation.

Definitions

The circumstances of the drowning incident were coded into defined variables for analysis related to age, sex, location of the incident, activity being undertaken and local health region.

Activity - Other includes jumped in, fishing, unintentional fall, attempted rescue, swept away and swept in.

Location - Other includes pond, storm drain, bathtub/spa bath.

As indicated throughout the report, the figures regarding drowning deaths over summer 2025/26 should be regarded as interim until ongoing coronial investigations have been finalised. Following the conclusion of formal investigations, relevant documentation will be assessed, including autopsy reports, toxicology reports and coroner’s findings.

It is possible that the formal investigation of some cases may result in a change in the assigned cause of death. For example, a case may be determined to be due to natural causes, rather than drowning. This is why the final number of drowning deaths that occurred in summer reported in the Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report (released in September) will differ.

Risk factors commonly reported in Royal Life Saving National Drowning Report, such as the presence of alcohol and drugs, lifejackets, swimming ability were unknown at the time of writing and unlikely to be known until the coronial investigation has been conducted.

Disclaimer – Media Analysis Only

2025/26 figures shown are derived from media reports only. As such, they should be considered interim, pending the outcome of ongoing coronial investigations.

These numbers are likely to be different when final drowning deaths are reported in the National Drowning Report released in September.

2024/25 figures are derived from media reports from last summer and may be different from final numbers published in the 2025 National Drowning Report that were finalised from coronial statistics.