July 18, 2017.
According to a study published Tuesday, July 18 in the Weekly Epidemiological Bulletin (BEH), 16.3% of French people cannot swim. A worrying figure in the middle of the summer month.
500 people drown each year in France
While 500 French people drown each year, we learn that nearly one in 6 people cannot swim. This is what emerges from the latest weekly epidemiological bulletin from the French public health agency. According to this work, not knowing how to float and move in water is one of the main causes of drowning. However there would be progress compared to previous years.
According to the BEH, in 2016, 83.7% of people aged 15 to 75, living in mainland France, declared that they knew how to swim, against 81.3% in 2010. ” Learning to swim from the 1960s, particularly in schools, is probably at the origin of considerable improvement in the swimming ability of the population, especially in women ”, Note the authors of the study.
Disparities between ages, sexes and regions
Differences remain between men and women: in the oldest populations, women are twice as likely as men to report not knowing how to swim. As regards people aged 55 to 75, the proportions are not the same: those 65 and over were only 64.7% to know how to swim in 2016 against 95% of 15-24 year olds. But here again there is progress since in 2010 they were only 56.8%.
There are also disparities depending on the regions. We know how to swim better in Provence-Alpes-Côte-d’Azur and in Corsicae than in Hauts-de-France for example. Finally, there are disparities in terms of living standards. Unsurprisingly, we know how to swim less well in disadvantaged areas, whereas in advantaged areas, ” swimming is one of the recommended physical activities for well-being and health “.
Read also: Swimming: a physical activity with multiple benefits
Marine Rondot
