I made these maps in R with the ‘usmap’ and ‘ggplot2’ packages, among others.
Data are from the CDC.[[1]](https://wonder.cdc.gov/Deaths-by-Underlying-Cause.html) The original data is divided by whether the subject simply drowned or fell and drowned, but I combined these. About 24% of the drownings were not in the other three categories: natural water (45%), swimming pools (19%) and bathtub (12%), either because it wasn’t recorded or for some other reason. If a state had fewer than 10 deaths across the entire 1999-2020 time period, the figure is suppressed as per the terms of use for this source.
Can you show one per capita too? this is quite interesting.
The bodies-of-water map and the swimming pool map make sense to me, but I’m befuddled by the Rocky Mountain Bathtub Drowning Belt. Correlates pretty highly to suicide rates and elevation, but I can’t quite figure it out.
How about drowning in debt?
With such great weather, 420 public beaches plus rivers, lakes and over a million swimming pools I am surprised California’s drowning rate is so low.
Public education? Required fences on pools? Fast-moving rivers? It’s not drinking, see Wisconsin. Maine is lost fishermen? Landlocked OK higher than TX?
How does Wyoming have a higher natural water drowning rate than California? Are the Wyoming surfing schools that incompetent?
It would be interesting to see rate of swimming pool drowning deaths per swimming pool, not per capita
I expected Georgia to be higher. It always seemed like people who can’t swim swarm to Lake Lanier in the Summer.
This is what Deadliest Catch does to you…
Is New Mexico’s high bathtub drowning rate due to it being a retirement state? Meaning that there are a lot of old people that move to the state to retire and vacation?
Interesting that the Northeast is so low.
I have a house on a river in Oregon that people drown in every year. Some summers multiple a week.
How? It’s a forested area and there are a lot of submerged trees, there are a lot of people floating the river in the summer and if they try to swim or stand they get their foot wedged in a branch/log and the current pushes the rest of their body under. it’s usually teenagers it’s really sad.
Who the hell is going swimming in Alaska? Is this from falling through ice?
Didn’t realize Maine would be that high. Probably attributed to ice fishing accidents
I didnt read the per million part and thought “wow only about 10 per state in 20 years lol
Live in the PNW. A hot spring day in mountain country is deadly. People hit the rivers during the spring melt when currents are high and water is cold.
Alaskan checking in. The water here is scary AF. If you’re a tourist visiting, treat it with respect. It will not be okay if you slip and fall in. The whitewater rafting “bible” for Alaska is titled “fast and cold”. It pretty much perfectly sums up every river and ocean in the state.
Side note: most lifelong Alaskans don’t know how to swim well. Still, the majority of drownings are tourists. Doesn’t matter how well you can swim when the cold sets in.
18 comments
I made these maps in R with the ‘usmap’ and ‘ggplot2’ packages, among others.
Data are from the CDC.[[1]](https://wonder.cdc.gov/Deaths-by-Underlying-Cause.html) The original data is divided by whether the subject simply drowned or fell and drowned, but I combined these. About 24% of the drownings were not in the other three categories: natural water (45%), swimming pools (19%) and bathtub (12%), either because it wasn’t recorded or for some other reason. If a state had fewer than 10 deaths across the entire 1999-2020 time period, the figure is suppressed as per the terms of use for this source.
Can you show one per capita too? this is quite interesting.
The bodies-of-water map and the swimming pool map make sense to me, but I’m befuddled by the Rocky Mountain Bathtub Drowning Belt. Correlates pretty highly to suicide rates and elevation, but I can’t quite figure it out.
How about drowning in debt?
With such great weather, 420 public beaches plus rivers, lakes and over a million swimming pools I am surprised California’s drowning rate is so low.
Public education? Required fences on pools? Fast-moving rivers? It’s not drinking, see Wisconsin. Maine is lost fishermen? Landlocked OK higher than TX?
How does Wyoming have a higher natural water drowning rate than California? Are the Wyoming surfing schools that incompetent?
It would be interesting to see rate of swimming pool drowning deaths per swimming pool, not per capita
I expected Georgia to be higher. It always seemed like people who can’t swim swarm to Lake Lanier in the Summer.
This is what Deadliest Catch does to you…
Is New Mexico’s high bathtub drowning rate due to it being a retirement state? Meaning that there are a lot of old people that move to the state to retire and vacation?
Interesting that the Northeast is so low.
I have a house on a river in Oregon that people drown in every year. Some summers multiple a week.
How? It’s a forested area and there are a lot of submerged trees, there are a lot of people floating the river in the summer and if they try to swim or stand they get their foot wedged in a branch/log and the current pushes the rest of their body under. it’s usually teenagers it’s really sad.
Who the hell is going swimming in Alaska? Is this from falling through ice?
Didn’t realize Maine would be that high. Probably attributed to ice fishing accidents
I didnt read the per million part and thought “wow only about 10 per state in 20 years lol
Live in the PNW. A hot spring day in mountain country is deadly. People hit the rivers during the spring melt when currents are high and water is cold.
Alaskan checking in. The water here is scary AF. If you’re a tourist visiting, treat it with respect. It will not be okay if you slip and fall in. The whitewater rafting “bible” for Alaska is titled “fast and cold”. It pretty much perfectly sums up every river and ocean in the state.
Side note: most lifelong Alaskans don’t know how to swim well. Still, the majority of drownings are tourists. Doesn’t matter how well you can swim when the cold sets in.
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